Copenhagen wins to even series

The Finals series got even more interesting as the Copenhagen Tridents won 3-2 for the second straight game. Each team has won twice in their own building and have made the Finals a best-two-out-of-three contest. On Wednesday, Copenhagen jumped in front 3-0 and appeared to be safely on their way to a win when Geneva poured it on and scored two goals in the last five and a half minutes of the third period. But Roberto Luongo and the Tridents held firm to get the win despite being outshot in the game by a 34-25 count. After a scoreless first period, Dany Heatley broke the ice with a laser shot 4:32 into the second period. It was his 11th goal of the playoffs. Stephen Weiss and Joni Pitkanen picked up the assists on the goal.  Darrell Powe and his fourth-line mates scored to make it 2-0 5:30 into the third period, and with the Generals and Kari Lehtonen back on their heels, Weiss added what turned out to be the game-winning goal with 11:36 remaining.  Geneva got on the board with David Desharnais’ ninth goal of the post season, and the Marian Gaborik wristed in his 6th of the playoffs about a minute later, but that’s where the scoring ended. The Generals were as bruised and battered physically in this game as in any game all year. Andrej Mezsaros of Copenhagen led everyone in hits with 6. Geneva’s Greg Zanon and Justin Williams had to be attended to by trainers in the first period, while Brad Stuart seemed to suffer a leg injury early in the third. Suddenly both teams are without two starting defensemen. Copenhagen has been playing the series minus Carl Gunnarsson and Fyodor Tyutin, and it appears Zanon and Stuart will miss the game in Geneva on Friday. Stuart has been a plus 18 in 19 playoff games for Geneva, while Zanon – who didn’t even play 30 seconds before being hurt on Wednesday – is a plus 9. To replace them, Geneva coach Joel Quenneville will have his choice of Bruno Gervais, Adam McQuaid and Jeff Woywitka, who played in only 12, 5 and 2 games respectively during the regular season.

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