Oslo 2, Athens 1
Oslo was awfully generous to the Greeks on Saturday, giving up seven powerplay opportunities, but they got what they needed to win from two unlikely sources. Jhonas Enroth, formerly of the Buffalo Sabres, has created a goaltending controversy in Norway. After watching Jimmy Howard start the first 10 games of the season, Enroth has played 3 of the last 4 Devils games and emerged with a win each time, sporting a 2.00 goals against average and a .929 save percentage. A goal by all-world center Pavel Datsyuk gave Enroth a 1-0 lead to work with in the first period and in the second, Deryk Engelland, who is only playing because Marc-Andre Bergeron is hurt, scored what turned out to be the winning goal for Oslo. Engelland has earned a point in each of his two games. On the Oslo scoring list, that puts him equal to or ahead of all 4 of Oslo’s starting defensemen not named Weber or Suter. Oslo’s fifth-leading scorer, Daniel Sedin, left the game early in the third period and is expected to miss some time with a groin injury. David Backes and T.J. Oshie combined for Athens’ only goal. Oslo, which is now in second place in the Northern Conference, left Athens this evening for Moscow, where the Devils will play Sunday.
Geneva 6, Milan 5 (shootout)
Milan outshot Geneva 40-26 but that was only good enough for a point in the standings. The Generals won in a shootout as Kari Lehtonen out-dueled Antti Miemi in goal. Milan was in good shape to win the game after a hat trick by Dustin Brown was followed by goals by Jordan Staal and Ryan Callahan. But Chris Kunitz and Marian Gaborik scored in the final 4:30 to force overtime. Patrick Marleau of Geneva dished out 3 assists, giving him 21 points this season, which puts him in sixth place in individual scoring.
Copenhagen 3, Bern 2 (shootout)
Bern lost their second in a row and Copenhagen won their third straight thanks to shootout deja vu. For the second straight game, Copenhagen went to a shootout in a 2-2 game, and in both instances, Dany Heatley scored for them on the first shot, Andrew Ladd missed with their second shot, and defenseman Alex Goligoski buried the winner. The first time that happened was Wednesday against Munich. Bern, which had Henrik Zetterberg back after a two-game suspension, led the Tridents on Saturday after first-period goals by Ray Whitney (9th) and Johan Franzen (7th). But Copenhagen battled back, getting a tally from Boyd Gordon (2nd) in the second period and one by Brandon Sutter (3rd) in the third. Both teams were 0 for 4 on the powerplay. The Tridents now lead the Northern Conference, sporting a 2-point lead over Oslo.
Zurich 4, Moscow 3 (overtime)
Patrick Kane was the hero of Zurich on Saturday. The American tied the game with 3 minutes left in regulation and then won it with just 34 seconds left in overtime, taking a goal-mouth pass from former Chicago Blackhawk teammate Patrick Sharp. David Jones, Vaclav Prospal and Dave Bolland, another former Blackhawk, scored for Moscow. Both teams used goalies who entered the season as backups but who have seen significant action lately. Mathieu Garon got the win for Zurich in his third consecutive start for the Lions. Meanwhile, Nikolai Khabibulin started for the Dynamo. He has started 6 games for Moscow, while Jaroslav Halak has started the other 9 games. Of the two, Khabibulin has slightly better statistics so far.
St. Petersburg 5, Helsinki 2
A goal by David Legwand pulled St. Petersburg even with Helsinki Jokerit in the first period and another Legwand tally shortly thereafter put them ahead to stay. Legwand finished with 2 goals and 1 assist. He and linemates Valtteri Filppula and Daniel Alfredsson, along with defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Willie Mitchell were all plus 3 and they were probably the reason the Lynx won. Shots were almost dead even and both teams were o for 5 with the man advantage.
Prague 4, Belfast 0
Young Belfast was no macth for Prague, as Sparta outshot the Giants 47-26 and goalie Ryan Miller scored a shutout in front of nearly 22,300 fans in Northern Ireland. Belfast had their chances to score, as Prague gave them 7 powerplay opportunites. But the only players to find the net wore Prague jerseys. Center Jay McClement scored his second of the season in the first period, with Niclas Kronwall (2nd), Ryan Getzlaf (4th) and Brett Clark (6th) scoring later in the game. Zach Parise didn’t score, but he really gave Belfast goalie Devan Dubnyk a workout, peppering him with 12 shots. Getzlaf took 10 shots. Rick Nash continues to be Belfast’s best player, getting 7 shots on goal, which was more than a quarter of his team’s total. He leads Belfast in goals, points and shots this season.
