The two Swiss teams in the playoffs each won and took a 3 games to none lead in their series on Friday.  In the case of Bern, the win was shocking, given the fact that Madrid attacked like ferocious bulls, pouring 59 shots on the Bear net and goalie Mike Smith. The contest had to be settled in overtime with Andy McDonald shining as the overtime hero for the second time in two games. He scored 13 minutes into overtime on a pretty rush with Ray Whitney and Jason Spezza. Spezza scored two goals in regulation time, but he also took back-to-back minor penalties contributing to a 25-4 Madrid shot advantage  in the second period. Mike Cammalleri scored Bern’s other goal. Madrid did everything right, but still wound up losing. Joe Pavelski opened the scoring eight minutes into the game with his 4th of playoffs and he ended the game with 10 shots on goal, 4 hits and one blocked shot. Alex Tanguay and Jordan Staal also scored, with Staal’s tally making it 3-3 before a scoreless third period. More than $1 million came through the turnstiles in Madrid Friday, but coach Dan Bylsma would trade all of that for a win. The two teams will go at it again Sunday, with Bern hoping to end it and give Smith more time to rest his weary bones.

Geneva 6, Berlin 1

Mike Fisher and Teemu Selanne have been the best playoff performers on the league best team. On Friday, Fisher was named the first star and Selanne scored two goals. Fisher also scored to give him 4 in the three playoff games. A jam-packed arena of 20,000 saw Geneva stroll to an easy win in the first EURO playoff game played in Berlin. Smurf Matt Read scored in the first period to counter a Chris Kunitz goal and have the fans anxious for a hard-fought win, and the game stayed even until late in the second period, when Geneva slipped into the lead again on Selanne’s first goal, a hard one-timer that beat Mika Kiprusoff on the stick side. In the third period, the Smurfs dug themselves a deep hole, with Colton Gillies and  Logan Couture taking penalties to give the Generals a 5-on-3 chance. With not much time left in Gillies’ penalty, Patrick Marleau scored his first goal of the playoffs to make it 3-1. Not too much later, Fisher added a goal to quite the crowd, and Selanne and Ryan Malone scored to add plenty of icing on the playoff cake. Kari Lehtonen was again good for Geneva in goal, stopping 31 of 32 shots.

Munich 2, Milan 0

Jonathan Quick posted a 24-save shutout, but it was a team effort that allowed the Munich Foxes to take the lead in a closely fought series. Munich peppered Josh Harding with 41 shots and the Guerriero goalie stopped all but two – a slapshot by Joe Corvo just 7 seconds into the contest and a deflection by Milan Hejduk in the last minute of the opening period. It was the first goal of the playoffs for both Corvo and Hejduk. Munich was led in shots by Steve Downie and Joe Thornton (6 each) and Hejduk (5). Thornton also had a good game in the faceoff category, winning 25 and losing just 8. The Foxes only blocked 2 shots. Milan defenseman Andrew MacDonald blocked 3 himself, with four other Guerrerio players blocking 2 each. MacDonald and Ryan Callahan had the most chances to score on Quick, with each getting 4 shots on goal.

Bratislava 5, Prague 1

A change in venues translated into a complete turnaround in the Czechoslovakia series. Bratislava made it a 2-1 series with a lopsided win in front of the home Slovaks. The key was the second period, which started with the score tied at 1-1. Native Slovak Marian Hossa scored his second of the game and third of the playoffs to give the Eagles a lead they never relinquished. Czech-born Martin Hanzal and Canadian Kyle Brodziak  added goals in a period that saw Prague get outshot 13-5. Hossa set up Jonathan Toews for a meaningless goal just before the end of the game to make the final 5-1. Toews, the Eagles’ leading scorer during the regular season with 99 points, had been held to just 2 assists and 3 shots through the first 7 periods of this series. The Prague side of the scoresheet looked awfully white Friday. Only Zach Parise had a point – on an unassisted goal – and no Sparta player was called for a penalty. The attendance for the game was 14,499, just one seat short of a full house. Club officials decided to look into it and learned that season ticket holder Lubomir Smaha, a power company worker, said he couldn’t attend because he overslept after a shift that had him repairing lines downed in a truck accident not far from the Austrian border.