London 5, Oslo 2
London faced a tall order Wednesday, traveling to Norway to play a surging Oslo team. But the Knights surprised their hosts with a 5-2 win, with defenseman Marek Zidlicky leading the way with 2 goals. Zidlicky was inserted into the lineup due to the injury to Zach Bogosian. The Knights are in fifth place in the Northern Conference, five points behind Oslo and Copenhagen, who share second place at the moment. Among the highlights for London was Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s fourth shorthanded goal of the year. That goal broke a 2-2 tie in the second period and wound up to be the game-winning goal. Only Joe Thornton of Munich, with 5, and Prague Bryan Little with 6, have more shorthanded goals than Bouchard does. London has now won all 3 matchups between the two teams.
Two Oslo forwards who play on different lines came into Wednesday’s game against London riding 9-game scoring streaks and both extended their streaks to 10 games. Of the two – Pavel Datsyuk and Max Talbot – Talbot would be the one who experts wouldn’t expect to have a long streak going. His scoring streak started in a Dec. 7 game against Minsk, when he scored once, assisted on two goals and was a plus 3. That game came 3 days after a game against Copenhagen in which Talbot was pretty bad: Minus 4 and 7 of 20 in the faceoff circle. Throughout the current 10-game streak, Talbot as 13 points, including 3 goals, and is plus 12, but his faceoff numbers have been poor. Datsyuk has battled injuries lately, missing 7 games. Still, he is tied for the team lead in scoring with 42 points in 36 games played, while being a plus 5 so far.
Milan 5, Zurich 4
Henrik Sedin ended the drama in a closely played game by firing a wrist shot into the far side of the net to beat Zurich goalie Mathieu Garon with 53 seconds left in overtime. Sedin had 3 points in the game, along with a plus 3 rating and 7 shots on goal. Dustin Brown scored a pair of goals for Milan and he now has 24 EURO goals, which has him tied for 6th in the league in that category. He also has scored in each of the last 4 games, while Sedin and Dustin Byfuglien have points in the last 4 games. Zurich’s Patrick Kane and Alexei Ponikarovsky each scored two goals, with Kane’s tying the score at 4-4 in the third period. Ponikarovsky added two assists for a 4-point evening.
Copenhagen 6, Stockholm 4
Copenhagen trailed the visitors from Sweden 3-2 going into the third period, but outscored Stockholm 4-1 in the third to win it by 2 goals. Stephen Weiss led the way for the Tridents with a goal and 2 assists. His goal was the last of the game and gave his team breathing room after Ryan Smyth’s goal brought Stockholm to within a goal with 12:43 to play in regulation. Teddy Purcell of Copenhagen and Stockholm’s Smyth and Miko Koivu with one-goal-and-one-assist nights. The Spartans’ Keaton Ellerby played well defensively with 3 hits and 3 blocked shots.
Athens 6, Bratislava 2
Bratislava backup goalie Richard Bachman had a tough time with Athens’ shooters on Wednesday, while the rest of his teammates were overmatched by the Greeks’ top two of David Backes and T.J. Oshie. Both men scored a goal and had 3 assists, while teammate Scott Hartnell shot two past Bachman and into the Eagles net. Tyler Ennis scored two for Bratislava.
St. Petersburg 3, Helsinki 1
The Lynx made it 3 wins in 3 tries against the Jokerit, outshooting them by an impressive 48-24 count. Second line center David Legwand was the first star, setting up St. Petersburg’s first two goals. Pekka Rinne was the beneficiary of better team play in his duel with Helsinki goalie Henrik Lundquist. St. Petersburg played a nearly perfect game, avoiding the penalty box altogether, with Paul Stastny’s second-period goal being the only blemish. That goal tied the game and made Lynx fans and coaches anxious until Kevin Bieksa’s goal in the third put St. Petersburg on top again. Helsinki didn’t like their quick Russian road trip. In their last game, they lost 5-2 in Moscow.
Gothenburg 4, Moscow 3
Vinny Lecavalier drew three defenders to him in the third period with the score tied 3-3 and then zipped a pass to John Carlson, the young defenseman who snuck into an open lane on the far side of the net. Carlson’s fifth of the season broke the tie and was the eventual game-winner for Gothenburg. The top player int he game, however, was Marcus Johansson of Moscow, who managed a goal and two assists to befuddle Martin Brodeur. The Kharlamov Division foes are now 1-1 against each other, with Moscow needing the wins more. They are 2 points behind Helsinki for the 8th and final playoff berth. Gothenburg is 2 points ahead of Helsinki.
