Paul Martin’s shorthanded goal has extended the Czechoslovakia series to a seventh and deciding game. With 2:45 remaining in the first overtime period, referee Vladimir Kvachkov called Bratislava’s Matt Greene for unnecessary roughness for decking Jason Blake after play stopped in the Eagles zone. Coach Bruce Boudreau almost put his team two men down when he launched a tirade after the call. It was the first penalty called in the overtime. But Bratislava was able to fend off the Prague powerplay for about 50 seconds and then worked the puck down ice. Jonathan Toews took a shot that was blocked in the slot area in front of Ryan Miller and Martin swooped in to slap the puck and drive it through Miller’s five hole. Miller was given a workout in the game, as Bratislava outshot Sparta 45-26, including 14-3 in overtime. Bratislava had the lead twice in the game on goals by Martin Hanzal (his fifth of the playoffs) and Martin Erat (2nd), but goals by Ruslan Fedotenko (a shorthanded tally that was his second of the playoffs) and Blake (1st). Scott Hannan earned assists on both Prague goals. Sparta’s top line of Zach Parise, Jason Pominville and Bryan Little, who is filling in for injured Ryan Getzlaf, had a poor game, getting a total of only 4 shots on goal to go with a minus 2 rating. Getzlaf’s groin is still hurting and team officials said he will not play in Game 7 on Saturday.
Bern 6, Madrid 4
The Bern Bears caught up to and passed Madrid in the third period to become the second Swiss team to make it to the second round of the playoffs. Playing in front of their enthusiastic home fans in Spain, Madrid seemed to have control of the game after two periods. They outshot the Bears 23-12 after two and were leading 3-2 thanks to goals by Max Lapierre, Mark Streit and Gabriel Landeskog. But a shorthanded goal by Brent Seabrook of Bern seemed to spark his team halfway through the second. They stopped the bleeding and came out roaring in the third period. Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg and Radim Vrbata (his second of the game) scored goals within a 12-minute section of the period to make it 5-3. A Madrid powerplay goal by Jeff Carter made it very interesting. Dan Bylsma pulled his goalie in an attempt to tie the game, but Seabrook ended it when he intercepted a pass and sent Jason Spezza on a breakaway to an empty net. Seabrook led everyone in scoring with 3 points in the game, and he is second on the team in scoring during the playoffs with 2 goals and 7 assists in 6 game. Zetterberg has 11 points.
Friday
Two Northern Conference teams will play their last games of the year on Friday. Gothenburg will be in Denmark to play Copenhagen for Game 7 of their series, while Dublin will play in Norway against Oslo. The winners will join St. Petersburg and Stockholm in Round 2 of the playoffs.
