Copenhagen 3, Moscow 2

Alexander Ovechkin, Moscow Dynamo captain.

Moscow fans didn’t like the way the game against visiting Copenhagen started. Neither did captain Alexander Ovechkin. Not only did the Tridents jump out to a 3-0 lead on goals by Teddy Purcell, Jamie Langenbrunner and Troy Brouwer, but Copenhagen defenseman Keith Ballard followed that up by sending Moscow’s Vaclav Prospal face-first into the glass in the Copenhagen end. Ballard was penalized 5 minutes, but the Dynamo powerplay couldn’t make him pay for it. After James Van Riesmdyk scored his third first-period goal in about 25 hours to cut the score to 3-1, Ovechkin did in fact make Ballard pay for the hit … by hitting him from behind into the boards. The fans cheered, Ovechkin sat in the penalty box for five, Ballard was OK, and the hockey game went on as planned. More like Copenhagen planned, we’re sure. Ovechkin had an assist on an Anze Kopitar powerplay goal in the third period, but that’s all the scoring either team could generate after the first period. Bryce Salvador and Moscow teammate Duncan Keith had 3 shot blocks each, and Salvador added 4 hits.

St. Petersburg 8, Stockholm 1

Remember when the whole city of St. Petersburg was down in the dumps because the Lynx crawled out of the starting blocks like a snail? Petrograd’s players have all but erased that memory by surging to the top of the conference standings. Their latest victim, Stockholm, had to endure an 8-goal pummeling on Wednesday while St. Petersburg was outshooting then 38-17. Daniel Alfredsson added a quick 5 assists to his season total, while Brad Richards added 4 points with 3 goals and an assist. And they play on different forward lines. Defenseman Willie Mitchell got his name on the scoresheet three times with a goal and 2 helpers, and goalie Pekka Rinne stopped 16 of Stockholm’s 17 shots. Despite the loss, which frustrated the Spartans enough to have them taking 12 minor penalties, Stockholm defenseman Travis Hamonic played an excellent game, blocking 4 shots, racking up 3 hits and getting an assist on Daniel Cleary’s goal. St. Petersburg’s Richards is now tied for fourth in the league in scoring with two other players.

Dublin 4, Berlin 3

Berlin’s recent troubles continued Wednesday after Dublin beat them by a goal to extend the Smurfs’ losing streak to 5 games. The Fighting Irish have been going in the other direction, winning 8 of their last 10. Former Athens Greek Evander Kane scored the first two goals of the games to get his Dublin teammates on the right track, but it was a third period goal by T.J. Galiardi, his second of the season, which wound up being the game winner. Bobby Ryan scored a powerplay goal for Dublin in the second period. For Berlin, R.J. Umberger and Brian Campbell, two men who were involved in a memorable open ice hit when they played for Philadelphia and Buffalo respectively, both scored before Nate Thompson was able to score to cut the Dublin lead to a goal with more than half a period to play. Tim Thomas held the fort the rest of the way to preserve Dublin’s win.

Prague 6, Athens 3

Prague sent out its big guns to put the Greeks in their place and stop Athens’ win streak at 2. Jason Pominville scored twice and Zach Parise and Ryan Getzlaf each had three points to lead the Sparta team. Center Jay McClement scored a shorthanded goal in the second period to break a 2-2 tie and send coach Dave Tippett’s team off and running  to pull away from Athens. David Backes scored twice for the Greeks, while his teammate, defenseman Lubomir Visnosvky scored a goal of his own and blocked 3 Prague shots. Athens coach John Tortorella might have gone to the well once too many times, asking Corey Crawford to repeat his stellar play earlier this week against Bern and Bratislava. Crawford was in goal for all 6 Sparta goals.

Geneva 4, Belfast 1

The Generals used a 3-goal flurry in the third period to put away the visiting Giants on Wednesday. Geneva held a significant advantage in shots on goal, but were up by just the one goal that Marion Gaborik scored as the third period opened. A few minutes into the period, Gaborik set up Raffi Torres for a goal and Mike Fisher scored a short time later to give the Generals ample breathing room. Justin Williams’ 9th of the season pretty much sealed the game three minutes after the Fisher tally. Matthew Lombardi, who until Tuesday was playing with Ankara, Turkey, in a minor European league, scored in his first game as a Giant to break up the shutout Curtis Sanford would have had. Lombardi was signed to a one-year contract by Belfast as a free agent. Geneva’s Darren Helm played a noteworthy game, getting 4 shots on goal, registering 4 hits and going 14-5 on faceoffs in just 14 minutes of ice time.

Frankfurt 4, Paris 1

After a Steven Stamkos goal in the first period gave Frankfurt a 1-0 lead against visiting Paris, a pair of Inferno defensemen scored second-period goals to give their team what amounted to an insurmountable lead. Late in the second, Steve Staois scored on the powerlay and two minutes later, Yannik Weber hammered in a slapshot to make it 3-0. It was the 5th of the season for both Staios and Weber. The teams traded goals in the third period, with Evgeny Malkin scoring his 22nd for Paris, and Alex Steen countering with his 13th. Ondrej Pavelec stopped 20 of 21 Paris shots in the win. Defensemen Drew Doughty of Frankfurt and Paris’ Anton Babchuk seemed to have a hitting challenge going during the game, Doughty winning that side bet 7-6.