Minsk 5, Dublin 1
Patrik Berglund remains a pleasant surprise in Belarus, as the Swede scored four times against Tim Thomas and the Fighting Irish. Berglund now has 16 goals and 25 points in 34 games this season. He is just a point behind team co-leaders Patrick Hornquist and Nicklas Backstrom, but both of those two have played at least 10 more games than Berglund has. Three of his goals were scored on the powerplay and Minsk was 3 for 4 with the man advantage. The Hussars rebounded nicely from their loss to Edinburgh over the weekend. Bobby Ryan pounded home a Ryan Kesler rebound in the third period to break up a possible shutout for Minsk’s Carey Price.
St. Petersburg 3, Stockholm 2
Both teams had trouble killing penalties on Tuesday and a 9-shot advantage through the course of the game translated into one more goal for the Northern Conference leading Lynx. Viktor Stalberg’s 9th goal of the season gave St. Petersburg a 1-0 lead and it was the only goal scored at even strength. Kyle Wellwood and Erik Cole scored powerplay goals for St. Petersburg and Cole’s ended up being the game-winner. Loui Eriksson and Jordan Leopold scored for the Spartans, with Ericksson assisting on Leopold’s goal. Travis Hamonic played well for Stockholm, blocking 3 shots and registering 5 hits in 20 minutes of ice time. St. Petersburg is on a doozy of a win streak. They are on 11 wins right now and their last loss was a 3-2 decision in Copenhagen, one of only 2 losses the Lynx sustained in December. Had Bern lost to Zurich on Tuesday, St. Petersburg would be the new leader in the race for the President’s Trophy.
Berlin 6, Oslo 4
Defenseman Matt Carle scored twice and had an assist to lead the Smurfs over the Devils. Berlin’s centers did a good job in the faceoff circle and the Devils gave Berlin too many chances on the powerplay. R.J. Umberger had 3 points for Berlin, Daniel Sedin had 3 points for Oslo, and the Devil defense pair of Ryan Suter and Shea Weber was a plus 2.
Munich 7, London 4
Offense played the lead role in Munich as the Foxes beat visiting London 7-4. Munich put at least 2 goals in the Knight net every period. Munich’s Joe Thornton and Milan Hejduk each had 3 points, with Thornton scoring 2 goals as part of his total. Hejduk had 3 assists and he and teammate Dan Boyle outdid everyone else in the game in the plus-minus department as both finished plus 3. At the other end of the scale, London’s Jake Gardiner and Jeff Skinner were minus 3. Scott Gomez and Jamie McBain of London each registered two assists.
Bern 5, Zurich 2
In the latest battle of Swiss teams, Bern emerged victorious, thanks mainly to Mike Smith, the goalie who stopped 42 of 44 Lions shots. The Bears jumped out to a 4-goal lead in the first period, with Kimo Timonen and Ray Whitney each picking up 2 assists in the frame. Jason Spezza ended the scoring in the third period with his 31st goal of the season. He leads the league in scoring with 72 points in 46 games and he trails Joe Pavelski of Madrid by one in the goal scoring department. Patrick Kane and Ilya Kovalchuk scored and Pavel Kubina blocked a game-high 4 shots for Zurich.
Edinburgh 5, Copenhagen 4 (shootout)
The Capitals beat the Tridents, but it was a struggle that went to a shootout. Copenhagen led 3-0 at one point before Wayne Simmonds initiated a four-goal string for his Edinburgh team. But in the third period, Troy Brouwer scored his 11th of the season to make it an even game again. Both teams were cautious in overtime, with each only managing 1 shot on goal. Apparently both were confident in their chances in the shootout. In the three-round shootout, Edinburgh’s Jamie Benn and Copenhagen’s Dany Heatley both scored on their teams’ first chances. In the second round, John Tavares, who went pointless and was a minus 1 in the game, scored to put his team up and Ilya Bryzgalov stopped Copenhagen’s Andrew Ladd. After a James Neal miss, Alex Goligoski had a chance to tie it again for Copenhagen, but Bryzgalov stretched out a stick hand to deflect the puck away while Goligoski was trying to shoot it.
