Edinburgh 3, Belfast 0
The line of James Neal, Derek Stepan and Jamie Benn connected for two first period goals and Henrik Lundquist all 19 Belfast shots on Thursday. Neal later added his 10th of the season on the powerplay to help his Capitals distance themselves from the Giants. Chris Campoli had 5 shot blocks for Belfast, which was outshot 32-19. Edinburgh is currently in 6th place int he conference, while Belfast has dropped to the bottom.
Bern5, Prague 3
Bern built a 3-0 lead by the middle of period 2 and held off the late charging Sparta. The Bears remain at the top of the EURO League standings. Pascal Dupuis scored his 9th and 10th of the season for Bern, while teammates Jason Spezza and Ray Whitney each had a goal and an assist. John-Michael Liles also had a goal and an assist, but for Prague. Both teams were 2 for 4 with the man advantage and the shots were pretty even at 36-30 Bern. Faceoffs might have swung the game, as Spezza and the other Bear centers held a marked advantage in that area.
Geneva 6, Gothenburg 2
The Generals are now among the hottest teams in the league over the last 10 games, and they atop Websim’s power rankings. In the Southern Conference standings, they are 3 points behind second-place Bratislava and another 2 behind Bern. Against Gothenburg, Patrick Marleau was the most valuable General, firing in two goals and assisting on two others. There wasn’t an inordinate number of shots in the game (27 for Geneva and 21 for Gothenburg) but Geneva shooters gave Gothenburg goalie Anders Lindback a tough time, scoring three int he first period and three more in the third. Vinny Lecavalier assisted on both Gothenburg goals, which were scored by defensemen Dan Girardi and Stephane Robidas. Robidas’ tally was a shorthanded goal, while Girardi’s was his 9th of the season, making him the league’s leading goal scorer among defensemen.
Munich 6, Zurich 5
Five different Munich players scored to counteract the Patrice Bergeron to Ilya Kovalchuk show. Those two Lions hooked up three times for a Kovalchuk hat trick and they each added an assist on a Barrett Jackman goal. In the shootout, Kovalchuk and Patrick Sharp were stopped by Jonathan Quick, while Joe Thornton and Brooks Laich were able to stuff pucks past Mathieu Garon. Laich and Roman Hamrlik each had a goal and an assist to lead Munich. Zurich’s Rostislav Klesla played well, firing 3 shots, registering 5 hits and blocking 2 shots in 20 minutes of work.
Stockholm 3, Moscow 1
Stockholm’s powerplay practice paid off as the Spartans were 3 for 4 with the man advantage, and that’s all the goals they needed, thanks to Cam Ward, who stopped 31 of 32 Moscow shots. Ryan Smyth, Loui Eriksson and Jordan Leopold scored for Stockholm, while free agent pickup Brett Lebda scored for the Dynamo. Stockholm had a great second period, outshooting Moscow 22-6. Duncan Keith of Moscow logged 29 minutes and had 4 blocked shots, 2 hits and took two shots on Ward.
Oslo 6, Helsinki 5
Pavel Datsyuk scored his 11th of the season and dished out 3 assists to lead Oslo over Helsinki. His shorthanded tally put the Devils in front 4-2 in the second period, providing the only time in the game the teams were separated by more than one goal. Helsinki led at one point 2-1 after first-period goals by Jared Cowen and Nick Spaling eclipsed a goal by Daniel Sedin of Oslo. A crowd of 19,100 Norwegians watched the second game of the season series with the Finns. Oslo won their first meeting 5-1. The Helsinki forward line of Brad Marchand, Dainus Zubrus and John Tavares had a miserable night, going minus 5 as a unit, while defensemen Chris Phillips and Jack Johnson were minus 4.
