Playing its second game in as many days, Slovakia's men's hockey team had to do a little extra to get its first win of the Vancouver Games.

Pavol Demitra scored in the seventh round of the shootout to help the Slovaks past Alex Ovechkin and Russia 2-1 on Thursday.

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Marian Hossa tied it for Slovakia at the 9:48 mark of the third period when he beat Russian netminder Ilya Bryzgalov. Bryzgalov was in net after Evgeni Nabokov tended goal for the Russians on Tuesday against Latvia.

After Ovechkin and Slovakia's Jozef Stumpel traded shootout scores, the teams went scoreless until Demitra's nifty toe drag fooled Bryzgalov enough for Stumpel to tuck the puck neatly inside the left post. Evgeni Malkin misfired against Jaroslav Halak and Slovakia's rally was complete.

Halak made 36 saves to rebound from giving up three goals in Slovakia's 3-1 loss to the Czech Republic on Wednesday night.

Captain Alexei Morozov had Russia's lone regulation goal.

Both teams will get some much-needed rest as group play winds down. Slovakia finishes its games with a Saturday evening tilt against Latvia, while Russia is off until Sunday afternoon's showdown with the Czech Republic.