Madrid 5, Bern 3
The Madrid Royals used a potent powerplay to put away the Bears in Bern on Monday. Bern led 3-1 in the second period but couldn’t withstand a Royals onslaught that produced four unanswered goals. Madrid was 3 for 4 on the powerplay. Jordan Staal helped get the Royals back into the came by getting an assist on a Mark Streit goal and then tying the contest with a goal of his own. But Sean Couturier will be remembered as the star of this game because he scored the game-winner and an insurance goal in the third period. He also won the majority of his faceoffs, dealt 3 hits and blocked 2 shots. Radim Vrbata scored 2 for the Bears, who are tied with Prague for the top spot in the league. Both teams have 52 points. Madrid held Jason Spezza scoreless while their own star center, Joe Pavelski, sat out the game with the flu.
Zurich 4, Frankfurt 3 (overtime)
Zurich won for the third time in four games against Frankfurt thanks to a Patrice Bergeron goal in overtime. The first two periods were polar opposites, with Zurich outshooting Frankfurt 15-4 and outscoring them 2-1. In the second, Frankfurt outshot the Lions 12-4 and outscored them by the same 2-1 count, with Chris Kelly scoring both goals. The third period was scoreless. Kelly and Simon Gagne each had 3 points for the Inferno while Bergeron scored 2 and won 22 of 36 faceoffs.
Berlin 4, Munich 3
Mikael Samuelsson scored twice to tie the game and win it for Berlin and helped the Smurfs erase a 3-1 deficit to their German rival. Brooks Laich scored twice for Munich, who seemed to have a firm grip on the game until word spread along the Duns bench that the penalty box was a cool place to spend a couple of minutes. A parade of 7 Munich penalties in the third period kept them out of the Smurf zone and on the defensive. Both of Samuelsson’s goals came on the powerplay. Mika Kiprusoff made 38 saves for Berlin.
Athens 2, Gothenburg 1
Corey Crawford made 30 saves to key the Greeks’ victory over Gothenburg. Gothenburg had more shots on goal and more powerplay chances, but Crawford was too good. John Carlson scored on him in the second to put Gothenburg on top 1-0, but Athens’s Patrick Dwyer and Brad Boyes scored on Martin Brodeur to give Athens their 4th win in the last 10 games.
Stockholm 5, Moscow 2
Stockholm dominated on home ice, scoring 4 goals in the first to periods while Cam Ward was keeping Moscow off the scoreboard. The Spartans outshot the Dynamo 42-23, getting goals from regular goal scorers Loui Eriksson and Eric Staal, sometimes goal scorers Shane Doan and Tuomo Ruutu, and never-before-a-scorer Joe Crabb. Cam Fowler had a nice game for the winners, getting 2 assists and blocking 4 shots. Jannik Hansen and Rene Bourque scored for Moscow and Duncan Keith blocked 3 shots.
Milan 4, Belfast 1
The Guerriero built a 4-0 lead before Ryan Whitney of Belfast scored to break up Antti Niemi’s shutout with a little more than a minute from the end. Milan got powerplay goals from Dustin Brown and Antoine Vermette, and even-strength goals from Dustin Byfuglien and Henrik Sedin, who also had 2 assists to lead all skaters in the scoring department. Milan is 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, while Belfast has one just once in their last 10. The Giants, built for another year, knew they would be struggling this season against teams stocked with more experienced players.
League Notes:
The Helsinki Jokerit paid a king’s ransom Monday to acquire King Henrik from Edinburgh. Helsinki gained Henrik Lundquist at the expense of budding superstar John Tavares, goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, a second round pick in next season’s draft and $5 million. Finland seems an odd new home for the Swedish star. For more than 500 years, beginning in the 13th century, Finland was under Swedish rule. They’re still kind of peeved about that. If Lundquist doesn’t produce, and quickly, he won’t get much support from the home fans. If he plays like King Henrik, a Swede will again have great power in the Scandinavian country. Tavares gives Edinburgh one of the better young forward lines in the EURO League. The 21-year-old will have 22-year-old Jamie Benn on his left and 24-year-old James Neal on his right. Bryzgalov has a 3.77 goals against average and a .889 save percentage, while Lundquist’s numbers are 2.52 and .917, a save percentage that is second in the league behind Roberto Luongo.
