Three of the four playoff series played Wednesday went to 2-0, while one was evened at a game a piece. All across Slovakia tonight, young children are afraid to go to sleep because of the big mean monster who wears a Prague Sparta sweater with a horrible number 15 on his back and sleeves. Ryan Getzlaf scored four goals against the Bratislava Eagles to give his team a 2-0 lead in the Czechoslovakia series. In the game, Bratislava scored a minute in, as Martin Hanzal, who was born 150 kilometers away in Ceske Budejovice, barged into Ryan Miller but got credit for the opening goal. But then Getzlaf tied it. Then Lee Stempniak, of Buffalo, N.Y., scored to give the Eagles another lead. But … Getzlaf tied it again. A little later, the Eagles clawed their way to another lead on another Hanzal goal and you’ll never guess who tied the score less than a minute later. Bryan Little joined in on the fun for Prague with his first goal of the playoffs before Getzlaf scored his fourth goal – the game winner. Tyler Ennis made it a one-goal game with 6:50 to play, but Miller was able to hold the fort. Getzlaf wasn’t perfect. Three of his 7 shots on goal were saved by Craig Anderson. The series will shift to Bratislava on Friday.
Bern 7, Madrid 6 (OT)
Henrik Zetterberg, who had already tied the game at 3-3 with a goal in the first period, scored three more goals in the third period to lift his Bears to a 6-6 tie with visiting Madrid. The overtime session that Zetterberg forced was going Bern’s way, but only slightly (8 shots to 6) when Andy McDonald one-timed a Jason Spezza pass from behind the net to win the game and set 22,417 home fans into a frenzy. Zetterberg’s instant-legend performance threw a wet blanket over Joe Pavelski, Madrid’s 46-goal scorer, who scored a hat trick and added three assists. Almost lost in the glare of Zetterberg and Pavelski was Madrid’s Jeff Carter, who tallied two goals and had three assists. But Carter was the goat of the game in a sense. He spent the last four minutes of regulation time in the penalty box serving a five-minute major and watching Zetterberg score the last two of his four goals. Poor Pascal Dupuis of Bern and Gabriel Landeskog of Madrid; they only had 3 assists each and were hardly noticed. Each team’s powerplay operated at 50 percent. Madrid was 3 for 6 and Bern was 5 for 10.
Geneva 7, Berlin 1
Goaltending appeared to be the difference in Geneva, where the Generals took a 2-0 series lead. Berlin outshot Geneva 38-30, but were outscored 7-1. Kari Lehtonen manned the goal for the winners, while Mika Kiprusoff couldn’t stop enough pucks to stay in the game and he was replaced by Thomas Greiss late in the second. Leading the offensive charge for Geneva were David Desharnais (3 goals and 1 assist) Mike Fisher (2 goals and 2 assists) and Teemu Selanne (1 goal and 2 assists). Desharnais is the Generals’ third-line center, while the other two play on the second line. Nicklas Lidstrom played a good game again for Geneva, with 2 assists, 4 hits and 3 blocked shots.
Munich 4, Milan 2
The Foxes evened their series with Milan, as four players had 2-point performances. Patrik Elias had 7 shots on goal, one tally and one assist. Jumbo Joe Thornton and Steve Downie also had 1-goal, 1 assist games while Saku Koivu had 2 assists. Other Munich players who made a difference were Milan Hejduk (6 shots, 4 hits and one assist), Joe Corvo (4 blocked shots) and goalie Jonathan Quick (29 saves on 31 shots). Matt Moulson and Daniel Alfredsson were the best Guerriero players on Wednesday. Each scored a goal and they combined for 9 shots. Brooks Orpik surprised by providing some offense (5 shots) while dealing 5 hits and blocking 1 shot, but he was also minus 2 with partner Jason Garrison.
