Stockholm 6, Bern 2
Stockholm overpowered the powerful Bern Bears in the first meeting ever between the two clubs. Eric Staal led the way for Stockholm with 3 points, but it might have been the play of Bern’s top units that decided the game. Forwards Jason Spezza, Ray Whitney and Radim Vrbata, along with blueliners Brent Seabrook and Kimo Timonen were all minus 3 for the Bears. Loui Ericksson and Ryan Smyth each had 2 points for the Spartans, and Smyth has now scored at least a point in each of his last 6 games. Bern led 2-1 after the first period, but from that point on it was all Stockholm.
Dublin 3, Minsk 1
The Michalek brothers scored about 10 minutes apart from each other in the first period to give the home team a 2-0 lead and Dublin held on to defeat Minsk 3-1. Tomas Plekanec got an assist on Zbynek’s first goal of the season, and then set up brother Milan for his 9th. Plekanec wasn’t done there, however, assisting on Nikita Nikitin’s third goal of the season in the second period. With the 3-0 lead, the Fightin’ Irish went into a defensive shell, trying to protect a Tim Thomas shutout, but Ryan McDonagh picked up a muffed pass in the neutral and fired a slapshot from outside the blue line that got past Thomas with about 5 minutes to go. Minsk outshot Dublin 16-4 in the third period. Each team was playing without a key team member in the lineup due to injuries. Nic Backstrom was out of the Minsk lineup, while the Irish went without defenseman James Wisniewski. Dublin is now tied with two other teams for second place in the Northern Conference, although they have played the most games of the three.
Milan 6, Athens 0
Josh Harding was perfect in net for Milan and the Guerriero’s powerplay was a perfect 3 for 3 against Athens. Harding made 20 saves to get his second shutout of the season. He is 12th int he league in goals against average. But the play of Jamal Mayers has to be what pleased Milan coach Randy Carlyle more than anything else he saw on the ice Thursday. Mayers was called upon to take the right wing spot on the Guerriero’s top line when newly acquired all-star Daniel Alfredsson went on the injury list with a back issue. Mayers was plus 2 with an assist in Milan’s 5-4 win over Zurich on Wednesday, which was good enough for a stop-gap player, but on Thursday, he was much more, scoring the game’s first two goals playing on a line with Henrik Sedin and Dustin Brown. Again Mayers was a plus 2. Brown recorded 3 assists but didn’t score for the first time in 5 games. Ryan Callahan also scored twice for Milan. Athens’ top line of T.J. Oshie, David Backes and Scott Hartnell was minus 3 as a unit.
St. Petersburg 6, Bratislava 2
Jarome Iginla and Erik Cole each scored twice and the Lynx powerplay was 3 for 6 as they handed Bratislava their second spanking in two nights. Athens rolled over the Eagles the night before. Defenseman Kevin Bieksa reached double figures in goals with his 10th on the powerplay in the second period. Cole ended up with 4 points for St. Ptersburg, while teammates Brent Burns, Brad Richards and Iginla all racked up 3 points against Craig Anderson and Richard Bachman. Anderson, who played for the South in the all-star game, was taken off the ice by coach Bruce Boudreau after giving up 4 goals on his first 9 shots. The game featured four goals in the first four minutes of play. Bratislava’s goal by Jonathan Toews made it 2-1 early, but it was the only puck they would get past Lynx goalie Pekka Rinne.
Helsinki 4, Zurich 2
Trailing 2-1 with 5 and a half minutes to play, the Jokerit scored three times to play a cruel joke on the Lions. Zurich had a slight edge in both shots and goals through the first two periods, with Ilya Kovalchuk scoring shorthanded and Patrick Kane getting one on the powerplay. Their goals were sandwiched around Zack Smith’s third of the season. Helsinki was able to kill off a penalty that Brad Marchand took and then reeled off three straight goals by Martin St. Louis, Jarret Stoll and Paul Stastny. A crowd of 18,500 stayed until the end and gave coach Dale Hunter and his Jokerit players a standing ovation.
Paris 7, Frankfurt 3
Traveling east and into Germany, Paris found a scoring touch. Evgeny Malkin tallied 4 points, scoring one goal himself and helping three different teammates get on the scoresheet in the goals column. Derick Brassard had 3 points, with Corey Perry and Kyle Turris each scoring two goals for Les Rouges Eiffels, who were actually outshot 27-24 by Frankfurt. Steven Stamkos – of course – scored for Frankfurt, who also got goals by defensemen Anton Stralman and Bryan Allen. Stamkos’ goal was his 28th of the season. The Paris powerplay worked like a charm, scoring in 4 out of 5 powerplay chances.
