German captain Tim Stutzle opened the scoring from close range before a backhanded strike from Slovakia's assistant captain Michal Mrázik levelled the contest at 1-1.

In the second period, Slovakia took the lead thanks to Oleksiy Myklukha before the Germans levelled during a powerplay when Stutzle scored his second of the game through an end-to-end rush and deflected shot to make it 2-2.

Slovakia took the lead for a second time near the end of the second period with Mrázik tipping in a centre-point drive to make it 3-2.

With just 46 seconds remaining in period two, Florian Elias levelled the match again at 3-3, tipping in a well-struck shot from defenceman Simon Gnyp.

A hard-fought third period failed to produce a goal with Germany coming closest as Stutzle, who was on a hat-trick, hit the bar with a shot.

This meant the first period of overtime in the championship, which saw the Germans secure the win four minutes in.

During a power play, Mario Zimmermann made the decisive breakthrough scoring through a mass of bodies to help Germany to a 4-3 win.

The exciting and close contest, something the tournament desperately needed given the one-sided nature of some recent matches, saw Germany get their first points in Group A to move fourth with two points.

Overtime wins only give teams two points, whereas wins in regulation play earn sides three.

Slovakia stay third in the group with four points after the loss, although did earn a point from the match after forcing overtime.

Meanwhile, in Group B Sweden beat Austria 4-0, a result that sees the Swedes extend their run of wins in preliminary round play to 54.

Despite the loss Austrian goalie Sebastian Wraneschitz earned plaudits for his performance which helped keep the score down.

Sweden had 22 shots in the first period but only managed one goal courtesy of Noel Gunler who helped them into a 1-0 lead.

The Swedes continued to dominate play in period two and made it 2-0 through Victor Soderstrom's deflected strike.

Gunler's second of the night made it 3-0 before the scoring was rounded off by Lucas Raymond who diverted a loose puck into an empty goal to make it 4-0 and put the Swedes top of the group with two wins from two on six points.

Austria sit bottom of the group with zero points having lost both of their opening two matches.

Three more matches are scheduled to take place at Rogers Place in Edmonton tomorrow.

In Group A Canada face Switzerland while two matches take place in Group B - United States v Czech Republic and Austria v Russia.