Katarina Jobst-Smith scored at 1:07 of overtime to give Germany a 2-1 win over France in Group B action. She took a pass from Lilli Welcke and fired a shot past the blocker of Alice Philbert, who was the main reason the game needed a fourth period.

Germany outshot the French, 47-14, but Philbert was brilliant from start to finish.

"I have to give credit to Lilli," Jobst-Smith noted. "She found me, and I didn't even think she saw me. It was a great pass, and all I had to do was shoot the puck. There was no one there. I saw the opening. I had enough time to pick my spot."

The game had far more importance for the Germans than the French. A win would guarantee them a place in the quarter-finals, regardless of tomorrow’s game against Italy or the result of the Japan-Sweden game tomorrow.

As it is, Germany still needs help or a win of their own tomorrow to advance. If Sweden beats Japan in any way, Germany advances. If Japan wins in regulation, then Germany needs at least one point from their game against Italy.

"Any time you can win games, that's the important thing," Jobst-Smith added. "We found a way tonight. We got a lot of shots, but didn't bury as many as we wanted to. Hopefully we'll have a little more luck tomorrow against the home country. We tried to do everything to get pucks to the net."

For France, pride was their motivation, and to that end they performed admirably. In the standings, their playoff ambitions ended after their last game. They will go home with a 10th-place finish but having earned the respect of fans and opponents alike. And Alice Philbert has certainly opened eyes as to her abilities. The 29-year-old who grew up in Quebec played every minute for the French and was sensational.

"It has been a very good experience," she said, fighting tears. "We learned a lot of things, and we're going to be ready for four years. We knew it was going to be a battle every game, so we pushed hard, but this isn't the result we wanted."

The Germans came out with purpose but were kept at bay by Philbert for much of the opening period. The French took four of the five penalties in the period, and although the penalty killing was perfect the first four times, they finally conceded a goal in the dying seconds. 

Daria Gleissner got the puck along the boards in the France end and spotted Laura Kluge in front. Gleissner wired a perfect and hard pass to the slot, and Kluge converted the one-timer with just 34.1 seconds remaining.

The Germans dominated the second in much the same fashion as the first, but they again had to deal with one large problem—the exceptional play of Philbert. Kluge had the best chance of the second, outskating Lucie Quarto to move in alone, but she blasted a shot high.

Philbert, however, denied Jule Schiefer from in close with a great pokecheck, and made a great save off Luisa Welcke who was spotted open in front by twin sister Lilli. Despite an 18-5 shots advantage in the second, there were no goals.

And just like that, the heroics of Philbert became important when France tied the game midway through the final period. Manon le Scodan made a sensational back pass to Estelle Duvin in the slot, and Duvin made a quick deke before tucking between the pads of Sandra Abstreiter at 8:21 to make it a 1-1 game.

"We were happy with our whole game," noted Germany's coach, Jeff MacLeod. "We think we've progressed from our last game. We liked the win. We would have liked three points, but at the end of the day it's a win."