Copenhagen 3,  Munich 2  (Shootout)

Jonathan Quick nearly pulled out a win for Munich, but the Tridents had enough firepower to rise to 3rd place overall. It was the first meeting of the year between Munich and Copenhagen. Alex Goligoski ended the game with a goal in the shootout session and his defense partner, Joni Pitkanen, scored in one of 2 Copenhagen goals in regulation time. Teddy Purcell notched his second of the year for the Tridents, but his center, 28-year-old Stephen Weiss, sustained a lower body injury and should miss some time. Weiss is one of 18 players currently injured in the EURO League. Munich was outshot 46-24 but earned 1 point in the standings thanks to goals by Czechs Patrik Elias and Milan Hejduk.

Moscow 2, Stockholm 1

A powerplay goal in the second period by Michal Handzus turned out to be the winning goal for Moscow in a game that saw good goaltending by the winner, Nikolai Khabibulin and the loser, Cam Ward of Stockholm. Tomas Kaberle, a Czech like his teammate Handzus, opened the scoring with his first goal of the season. Daniel Cleary got Stockholm going in the third period, but it was too little, too late.  Cleary is the Spartans’ leading goal scorer this season with 8. Cam Fowler played a strong defensive game for Stockholm in his 25 minutes of ice time, recording 3 hits and 3 blocked shots.

Oslo 5, Milan 3

Oslo’s top defense pair of Shea Weber and Ryan Suter came through in a big way for the Devils, each scoring third-period goals and providing the margin of victory. Weber also had 2 assists and made his presence felt with 6 hits. Oslo’s Mikhail Grabovski scored twice in the game. Jhonas Enroth backstopped the Giants to a win, making 31 saves. Milan got good games from Brooks Orpik and Dustin Byfuglien (2 assists each) and Jordan Staal (1 goal and 1 assist). Staal leads Milan in scoring with 17 points in 13 games.

Bratislava 3, Edinburgh 1

Edinburgh has lost the last 3 of  4 games but they will have plenty of time to get things right, as they have only 2 games in the next 8 days. Against Bratislava, the Capitals took too many penalties, 9, which gave the Eagles time to build a 44-26 shots advantage. Bratislava gave the league’s top goalie, Craig Anderson, the day off and replacement Richard Bachman came close to getting a shutout in his second-ever EURO game. Jay Bouwmeester scored for Edinburgh, while Bratislava got goals from Tyler Ennis, Tim Connolly and Paul Martin.

Dublin 6, Frankfurt 1

Scott Hartnell, the subject of trade rumors in Ireland, was named the game’s first star and was one of four Dublin forwards who recorded a goal and two assists. The others were Milan Michalek, Bobby Ryan and Ryan Kelser.  Jay Harrison had three assists while playing on the second defense pairing. The top two Fighting Irish defenders played very well, as Keith Yandle had a goal, 4 hits and 3 blocked shots and Tim Gleason had 3 hits and 3 blocked shots. The Inferno’s big line of Steven Stamkos, Claude Giroux and Alex Steen managed to get Frankfurt’s lone goal, but that unit was minus 2 on Wednesday. Tim Thomas stopped 34 shots for the winners.

Madrid 6, Paris 0

Paris’ performance in Spain was reminiscent of France’s performance in the last soccer World Cup. It seemed nobody wanted to play.  Les Rouges Eiffels took 8 minor penalties, while managing to get off just 2 shots in the first period, 3 in the second and 13 over 60 minutes. Tuukka  Rask was pulled after allowing 6 goals and making just 8 saves. Jose Theodore stopped all 18 shots he faced in relief, but Madrid’s Michal Neuvirth was perfect at the other end of the rink. Brian Gionta of Madrid entered the game with 1 goal and 14 assists, but decided to be a goal scorer instead of a passer for a day. He scored 2 of the Spaniards’ 6. Hal Gill also scored twice, while Joe Pavelski and Alex Tanguay each scored once. The one-sided contest was played in front of 18,699 fans.

League Notes:

• Of the 18 players currently injured, 12 are defensemen. Dublin and Geneva are both missing two starting defensemen. Dublin’s Aaron Johnson’s groin injury is currently the most severe in the league. He is expected to miss 2 to 3 weeks. Carlo Colaiacovo is still out of the Paris lineup. He was hurt in the third game of the season.
• Pierre-Marc Bouchard, one of 4 players cast aside by Bern on waivers was picked up by London.  Zurich also picked up two forwards recently – Chuck Kobasew and Trent Hunter – off  the free agent list. Both had been playing on minor league teams in North America when they were called by Lions GM CAG.