Oslo 6, Dublin 5

Dublin was trailing 6-2 in the third period but mounted a furious comeback attempt only to be thwarted in the end by Oslo goalie Jimmy Howard. Mikhail Grabovski scored two for the Devils, and three other Oslo forwards had multiple-point nights, but the Norwegian media who voted on the three stars were very gracious hosts, awarding all three to Dublin players. Ryan Kesler had a goal and three assists to be named first star, and Bobby Ryan was second star after notching 2 goals and an assist for the Fighting Irish, but both men were minus 2 on the evening. Dublin blueliner Keith Yandle was named the third star after getting a goal and 2 assists in a minus 1 performance.

Edinburgh 2, Gothenburg 1

Jordin Tootoo and Chris Stewart scored second period goals and newly acquired goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 26 Gothenburg shots to endear himself to the Scots right away. Stewart led the Capitals in shots on goal with 4. Gothenburg’s goal came from Cal Clutterbuck in the first period, while teammate Erik Johnson blocked 3 Edinburgh shots and was a plus 1.

Madrid 6, Bratislava 3

Madrid jumped out to a 4-0 lead and built a considerable lead in shots against the reeling Eagles. Bratislava has won only 3 of its last 10 games, while Madrid has surged in the opposite direction, with 7 wins in its last 10. Jordan Staal scored two goals and now has 15 for the season, while Jeff Carter blasted in his 18th of the year with just 7 seconds left in the first period. Bratislava goalie Craig Anderson, who was in the net for all 6 Royals goals, has dropped in the individual goalie statistics lists from number 1 in the EURO at one point to number 9 in goals against and number 11 in save percentage. Bratislava captain Zdeno Chara tried to get something going for the Eagles in the third period, scoring his 11th goal of the season to tie him for the top spot among defensemen in that category and getting into a rather meaningless fight with Madrid’s Brandon Prust. Chara leads the league in fighting majors with 6, which is 2 more than Prust has.

Zurich 6, Minsk 0

Zurich fans had a lot to cheer about Wednesday as the Lions shutout Minsk, chasing Hussar goalie Carey Price from the net in the process. Price didn’t have much help in the first period as his team was outshot 22-4. As that period was just about over, Price was on the bench and Drew Stafford belted home a rebound to score his 14th of the season on  Jonas Gustavsson, Price’s replacement. Ilya Kovalchuk (20th of the season) Patrick Kane (16), Patrick Sharp (10), Alex Ponikarovsky (6) and Barrett Jackman (6) all scored for Zurich. Brian Elliott made 29 saves for a well-earned shutout, his third in 26 starts. Minsk forward Ryan White had an impressive 10 minutes of play, getting 7 shots on goal and registering 2 hits in that short time.

Copenhagen 2, Stockholm 1 (overtime)

The Danish and Swedish cities aren’t that far apart – about 7 hours of driving a mostly northerly route across a bridge and along routes E20 and E4. Wednesday’s score was closer. Cam Ward of Stockholm and Roberto Luongo of Copenhagen were swatting away pucks all night long, making a total of 76 saves through three full periods of hockey and into overtime. Stephen Weiss of Copenhagen and Stockholm’s Tuomo Ruutu scored the only goals of regulation, setting up a dramatic finish.  With a little more than half a minute to play in overtime, Fyodor Tyutin blocked a shot for the first time in the game and was able to push the loose puck ahead to teammate Colin Greening who made a move on Corey Potter at his own blueline and raced down the boards with Keaton Ellerby cutting him off. Greening then slid the puck between Ellerby’s skate and stick and sent a racing Brandon Sutter in all alone on Ward. Sutter looked up and fired a wrist shot to beat Ward on the stick side and win it for Copenhagen.

London 4, Munich 1

Backup goalie Semyon Varlamov was named the first star as London won 4-1 in front of 14,750 home fans. Varlamov stopped all but one of Munich’s 28 shots, a much better performance than Jonathan Quick put in for the Duns. London, which is noted for its roster of young, speedy forwards, received two goals from Jeff Skinner, one from Tyler Seguin and a fourth and final goal of the game from young defenseman Jake Gardiner. Jumbo Joe Thornton, who is tied for second in the league in scoring, tallied the only Munich goal. Both London and Munich now have 45 points. The Knights are tied for third place in the Northern Conference, while the Duns are tied for 5th in the South.

League notes:

• Munich bought out the contract of talented right wing Jarome Iginla on Wednesday, making him free game for any club in the EURO League. Teams interested in him can make offers online through the league’s “Contract Offers” section. Munich’s ownership has been experiencing trouble in the last month, more related to financial troubles its top backer, communications company ABW, is having in the Bavarian market. Nonetheless, the owners’ priorities have shifted away from the hockey team and league officials have confirmed that the current arrangement may not be in place for very much longer.  The owners’ absence from the hockey operation led to the automatic buyout of Iginla’s contract today. A message from the commissioner to the owners will be sent asking them to either maintain or relinquish the team.
• Another trade occurred Wednesday involving Helsinki. The Jokerit followed up its blockbuster Henrik Lundquist deal by shipping grinding winger Jamie McGinn, 23, to Milan in exchange for veteran Nik Antropov, a second round pick in 2013 and a third rounder in the same draft. McGinn had 5 goals and 14 points in 36 games for the Jokerit, playing mostly on the fourth line. Antropov, 31 and also a fourth-liner for Milan, had 4 assists in 15 games. Helsinki has moved ahead of Moscow for the 8th and final playoff berth in the Northern Conference. They are also only a point behind Gothenburg for seventh place.