Zurich 4, Geneva 3
The Zurich Lions busted an 11-game losing streak by taking a train 280 kilometers to the west and beating their Swiss cousins in Geneva. Zurich scored twice in the last 9 minutes to get the win. Big defenseman Barrett Jackman sent a wrist shot into a crowd in front of the net and the puck glanced off of a Geneva player’s rump and into the net to tie the game at 3-3. Then with less than two minutes left in regulation, Patrice Bergeron collected an Ilya Kovalchuk miss after it hit the end boards and he tucked it behind an out-of-position Curtis Sanford to win it. Mike Fisher of Geneva was the offensive star of the game with 8 shots and 2 assists, one of those coming on red-hot Chris Kunitz’ 17th of the season. The loss means Geneva failed to gain ground on second-place Bratislava, which also lost Monday.
Stockholm 5, Moscow 1
The home crowd got Stockholm going right off the bat, energizing the Spartans in the first period. Stockholm outshot Miscow 14-7 and scored four goals in that period. Mark Fayne and Shane Doan each had two assists for the Spartans and their leading goal scorer, Daniel Cleary, opened the scoring with his 13th of the season. Moscow’s top line of Alexander Ovechkin, Anze Kopitar and Mike Knuble had a bad game, going minus 3 as a unit. Both teams are 5-5 in their last 10 games.
Paris 6, Milan 2
Les Rouges Eiffels scored 4 goals in a five-minute span of the first period and then played Milan even the rest of the game. The player with the most shots (7) and the most hits (6) in the game played for the losing team, as Steve Ott tried to set a tone for his teammates. Evgeny Malkin scored 3 points, including 2 goals in the third period for Paris. Malkin is tied for 8th in scoring in the EURO, behind – in order – Jason Spezza, Jonathan Toews, Joe Thornton, Ray Whitney, Brad Richards, Steven Stamkos and Joe Pavelski. Everyone in the league knows Malkin is capable of passing several players on that list and Paris management and fans are hoping he does. Paris is now 5 points behind Milan for eighth place and final playoff position in the Southern Conference.
St. Petersburg 6, Bratislava 2
The Lynx were not very hospitable hosts on Monday, creaming the Eagles on the scoreboard and outshooting them 43-27. Two St. Pete players – Artem Anisimov and Jerred Smithson – scored their first goals of the season. But a key to the game might have been how St. Petersburg was able to capitalize on penalties committed by two of the Eagles’ top defenseman. With the game tied at 2-2, Zdeno Chara was whistled for holding a stick and Daniel Alfredsson scored on the powerplay. Then, after Anisimov made it 4-2, Christian Ehrhoff was called for delay of game and Kyle Wellwood potted one on the powerplay. For both Alfredsson and Wellwood, it was their 8th goals of the season. Defensemen Andrew Ference and Jeff Petry were plus 2 for the Lynx. Bratislava has now lost 3 of its last 4 games.
Madrid 5, Minsk 1
Brian Gionta assisted on Madrid’s first three goals and then scored a goal of his own to lead the Royals. Madrid was 3 of 5 with the man advantage, Alex Tanguay scoring two of those. Tomas Vokoun stopped 31 of 32 Minsk shots in his Royal debut, letting only Sergei Kostitsyn’s 6th of the season get past him. And of course, Joe Pavelski was a super hero again, scoring a goal, getting 2 assists, 5 shots, 2 hits, a blocked shot and he was 16-5 on faceoffs.
London 2, Oslo 1 (overtime)
The London Knights have been storming Copenhagen’s castle at the top of the Northern Conference lately and the two teams are currently tied in points with 34, although the Tridents have a game in hand. On Monday, London picked up two more points at home (why does it seem they are always at home?) thanks to a lovely deke goal by Taylor Hall in overtime. The shots were just about even at 32-30 Oslo, and both teams were 0 for 3 on the powerplay. There was more symmetry on the scoresheet: two players – one from each team – scored their 3rd goals of the season in the first period. Tyler Kennedy of Oslo beat Marc Andre Fleury to open the scoring, but Pierre-Marc Bouchard tied it about four minutes later for London, scoring on young Jhonas Enroth. Zach Bogosian and Luca Sbisa had good games for London again, each blocking 3 shots and registering at least 3 hits.
