Gothenberg 4, Helsinki 1

Martin Brodeur is wanted in Finland for grand theft after stealing a game for visiting Gothenberg on Monday. It was the opening game of the season for both his club and Helsinki. The 39-year-old who is earning $5.2 million this season, turned away 35 shots, allowing just one goal, a third period tally by John Tavares. Gothenberg got four goals from four different players: Vincent Lacavalier, Carl Hagelin, Radek Dvorak and defenseman Chris Butler who never scored more than 2 goals in any of his four NHL seasons with Buffalo and Calgary. Gothenberg’s discipline was a major problem, but Brodeur bailed them out of two 5-on-3 situations and a five-minute major on Milan Lucic. Helsinki spread around their 36 shots, with 6 players getting either 3 or 4 shots on Brodeur. Helsinki, which made over $1 million at the gate, will be right back at it on Tuesday, hosting Athens.

Zurich 4, Frankfurt 1

In a Schloder Division matchup, the Lions beat the Inferno 4-1, pouring it on in the third period. Overall, Zurich outshot Frankfurt 38-18, holding a 16-4 advantage in the final 20 minutes. Spoiling Brian Elliott’s shutout in front of the Swiss home fans was, yes, a Swiss player, Nino Niedereitter. His first period goal opened the scoring in the game and it equaled his goal and point total with the NHL’s Islanders last year. Niederreiter played 55 games in New York before being signed by Frankfurt. Patrick Kane scored two goals for Zurich and led all players with 7 shots on goal. The game featured one of the league’s first two fights, as Brian Boyle of Frankfurt and Barrett Jackman of Zurich tussled. Zurich will host Swiss rival Geneva on Tuesday.

Prague 4, Moscow 3

Jason Pominville was the difference in one of the closest games of the season so far. The Prague right wing scored the first goal of the game on a bang-bang play in front of Moscow goalie Jaro Halak, and then won it in the third period, one-timing a pass from linemate Zach Parise. Moscow had built a 3-1 lead after Pominville’s initial tally, but Prague Sparta clawed their way back to tie it late in the second period. Michal Handzus scored twice for Moscow, and Slovenian center Anze Kopitar had the other Russian goal. Prague’s underrated third line of Jay McClement, Chad Larose and Ruslan Fedotenko worked their way to a gutsy goal that tied the score at 3-3 before Pominville’s shot won it.

Copenhagen 3, St. Petersburg 2

All of Denmark celebrated loudly when Derek Roy’s lead pass found the tape of Andrew Ladd’s stick and the former Jet captain converted for a sudden-death  overtime win over the Lynx. The Tridents outshot St. Petersburg 31-19 in the game. All the scoring in regulation time came in the second period, when Lynx goals by Andrei Kostitsyn and Erik Cole sandwiched a pair of Copenhagen goals by Roy and Stephen Weiss. Copenhagen flirted with a loss by taking 7 minor penalties. Two of those 7 man advantages resulted in Petrograd goals. St.  Petersburg left Denmark after game to fly to Sweden, where they will play Gothenberg on Tuesday.

Paris 8, Dublin 4

EURO hockey executives today are trying to figure out if Paris’ offense is that mighty, or if Dublin’s D is that shaky, after Les Rouge Eiffels poured 8 goals into the home team’s net on Monday. Tim Thomas stayed in the net for all 60 minutes, making 30 saves, but seeing his goals against average start at 8.00. His former Boston backup, Tuukka Rask played at the other end of the rink and wasn’t exactly great himself, allowing four goals on 33 Dublin shots.  Paris’ Evgeny Malkin and Corey Perry seemed to enjoy playing as linemates. Both earned three points and at least 1 goal in the game, as did second line center Mike Ribeiro, who also saw time on the top powerplay unit. Joffrey Lupul, Kyle Turris and defensemen Kris Letang and Carlo Colaiacovo scored for Paris.

London 3, Minsk 2

Devin Setoguchi scored twice on feeds from Jeff Skinner and blueliner Jamie McBain scored once as the Knights built a 3-0 lead and held on against their hosts in Minsk. Jakub Voracek got the Hussars on the board in the second period and Zac Rinaldo scored with 7:22 left in the third. Rinaldo’s linemate Kyle Clifford and London’s Luca Sbisa engaged in the EURO league’s first every fight early in the second period, with Clifford scoring a unanimous decision.  A highlight for Minsk was the play of young centerman Patrik Berglund. The Swede won 13 of 18 faceoffs and he sent 7 shots on London goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. More than 16,000 attended the first game in Minsk, generating $738,523 for the home team. Madrid with its three Swedish mega stars – Erik Karlsson, Henrik Sedin and Gabriel Landeskog – comes to town on Tuesday.

League notes

• The Demitra Division gets early bragging rights with five of its six teams starting the season with wins. In the Kharlamov Division, the only team to win was Gothenberg.
• Keith Yandle should produce some workout videos in the off season. The Dublin defenseman logged 40 minutes of ice time in his game. That’s a full 10 minutes more than any other player skated in their games.