London 7. Berlin 3
Jamie McBain had an individual performance that will be tough to match. The Knight defenseman scored 3 goals, including two shorthanded goals less than 2 minutes apart in the first period to make the score 3-1. By the time he scored his hat trick goal in the second, the game was pretty much out of reach for the Smurfs. McBain, who scored on every shot he took, did more than score. He was a plus 5, was credited with 4 hits and he blocked 4 shots in 19 minutes of play. Tyler Seguin and Sean Bergenheim also had 3-point nights for the Knights. Mika Kiprusoff and Matt Carle suffered the most among Berliners on the scoresheeet. Carle was a minus 5 and Kipper was yanked after allowing 6 goals on 17 shots.
Moscow 4, Gothenberg 3
The Moscow Dynamo got into the win column for the first time this season, beating visiting Gothenberg by a goal. Rene Bourque scored twice and his second of the game proved to be the game winner. Marcus Johansson assisted on both of his goals. Anze Kopitar provided a huge boost in the third period for the Dynamo when he scored a shorthanded goal to make it 3-2. Jaro Halak made 34 saves in front of more than 21,000 Moscow fans. Gothenberg defenseman John Carlson was injured on his second shift and that led to inflated ice time for Dan Girardi. The former NY Ranger blueliner put in 37 minutes of work for Gberg.
Milan 2, Stockholm 1
Ryan Callahan’s deflection got past Spartan goalie Cam Ward and proved to be the game winner. The goal also kept Milan’s unblemished record in tact. Steve Ott scored a powerplay goal for the Guerriero to open the scoring before Stockholm’s Craig Smith bounced off a Dustin Byfuglien check like a tennis ball but managed to keep possession of the puck and sweep it past Antti Niemi to tie the game. Stockholm will return home to host Minsk on Wednesday.
Prague 6, Frankfurt 2
Jason Pominville scored his 6th goal of the young season and Ryan Getzlaf tallied his first and second as the Prague Sparta overwhelmed the Inferno. Penalties cost Frankfurt dearly. Prague had 7 man-advantage situations, and while they couldn’t score even once on those opportunities they ate up 14 minutes in the Frankfurt zone. Getzlaf was named the first star after getting 4 points, blocking a pair of Frankfurt shots and winning 24 of 39 faceoffs.
Edinburgh 5, Belfast 1
The Capitals burned Belfast for three first-period goals, then poured 22 shots on the Giants’ net in the second period before coasting to their second win of the season. Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored the first and last goals for Edinburgh and teammate Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26 of 27 Belfast shots. Derek Stepan had two assists and 6 shots on goal for the winners, while Mattias Tedenby was the biggest Giant, scoring their only goal and registering a team-high 5 shots. Both teams will start to prepare for difficult games as Belfast plays host to Copenhagen on Wednesday and Edinburgh readies for Bern on Thursday.
Oslo 3, Geneva 0
Jimmy Howard posted a 30-save shutout and Alex Burrows scored twice to lead the Devils to their second win. Mikhail Grabovski also scored on Kari Lehtonen as the Generals dropped to 2-3. Geneva’s Chris Kunitz had more shots on goal than anyone else in the game, with 6.
League notes:
Madrid leads the league in shots per game with 38. Joe Pavelski (24 shots), Gabriel Landeskog (18) and Brian Gionta (15) have contributed most to that total. The teams in second and third place in that category are Bratislava (37.5) and Munich (35.5).
Belfast has been hit by the injury bug early this season. Currently, six Giants including Sid Crosby are out of action with various ailments.
