Munich 4, Paris 0

The Munich Fox entered Saturday’s game against visiting Paris knowing they play much better on home ice. Their only 2 wins of the season thus far were in Munich and in convincing fashion: 6-2 over Frankfurt and 4-1 over Zurich. It was much of the same Saturday, as Jonathan Quick shut out Paris while making 23 saves. The Munich offense, meanwhile, was revved up to the tune of 38 shots on goal, scoring three powerplay goals after Joe Thornton scored at even strength in the first period. The game also featured a fight between big names Corey Perry of Paris and Munich’s Dion Phaneuf. Munich’s third forward line of rookie Talgat Zhailauov, Matt Cooke and Josh Bailey has been one its best so far, with all three members of the line entering the game with a plus 4 rating. Given the fact that each of them has just one goal, that tells you how well they are playing defensively. Veterans Thornton and Patrik Elias remain the Foxes to keep an eye on, as they lead the team in scoring. The most interesting name on today’s lineup card might be Marc-Andre Gragnani, who played 20 minutes and was credited with 3 hits and 2 blocked shots, in addition to being whistled for the only Fox minor penalty. Last season, Gragnani was a member of the St. Petersburg team but he couldn’t crack the lineup. He played in just one game and was not resigned. The Fox signed him to a free agent contract and have inserted him into the lineup to play alongside Phaneuf on the team’s second defense pair. Grags has a plus 2 rating, good enough for fourth on the team behind the Zhailauov line members. And although Gragnani is pretty banged up with nagging injuries and plain old fatigue, he remained in the starting lineup today. Temporarily at least, he has supplanted veteran Finn Toni Lydman, who played in all 82 games last season for Munich. Lydman, 35, had 3 goals and 23 points and was a plus 8 last year. He also played in 18 playoff games, scoring 6 points.

Milan 6, Bern 5

Five times in the game, Bern scored to take the lead. Five times, Milan scored to tie it. And then with 3:21 remaining, Ryan Callahan broke the pattern when he took a lead pass from Mike Richards, skated in on short breakaway, beat Mike Smith and scored the game-winner.  Twenty-one players earned at least a point in the contest, with Bern’s Henrik Zetterberg leading everyone with 3 points on 2 goals and an assist. The Guerriero (5-2) are now tied with Geneva for the lead in the Southern Conference.

London 4 , Stockholm 2

Semyon Varlamov stopped 36 Spartan shots and London’s leading scorer Tyler Bozak scored a big goal to break a tie score as London won at home in front of 17,402 fans. Jeff Skinner, Marco Scandella and Sean Bergenheim also scored for the Dons. Eric Staal scored his 5th of the season and Corey Potter added a goal for Stockholm. The Spartans’ Jason Demers had an assist, 3 hits and 4 blocked shots. Early in the third period, London forward Taylor Hall left the game with an apparent shoulder injury. On the depth chart at left wing, the Dons have Mason Raymond, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and rookie Jimmie Ericsson available to replace Hall.

Edinburgh 6, Belfast 3

It is two in a row for the Capitals as they came back quite effectively from a 3-1 first-period deficit. After Marcel Goc scored his third of the season and Sidney Crosby and Justin Faulk both scored their first of the year for Belfast, Edinburgh scored five unanswered goals, two of which by James Neal. Neal, John Tavares and Jamie Benn were plus 2 as a line and all three were selected as game stars by the Edinburgh media. Despite a fight involving P.K. Subban of Belfast and the Caps’ Luke Schenn, the game was mild from a physical standpoint. Belfast had 14 hits to Edinburgh’s 8.

Zurich 6, Frankfurt 3

Jussi Jokinen was the offensive star for the Lions, scoring two goals and assisting on rookie Alexander Radulov’s first-ever EURO goal. Jokinen was also 12 of 19 in the faceoff circle. Five other Zurich players had 2 points in the game and one of them, Patrice Bergeron, also blocked 3 shots. Marc Staal had 6 hits and 2 blocked shots for Zurich.Frankfurt’s best player was Claude Giroux, who had 6 shots on goal and assisted on Steven Stamkos’ 5th goal of the season. The game was a bit nasty, featuring two kneeing penalties by Zurich’s Janne Niskala and Micki Dupont, and three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties by Frankfurt players Max Pacioretty and Drew Doughty, who was called for the offense twice.

Oslo 5, Gothenburg 4

The Outlaws went up 4-0 in the game and Gothenburg was on the way back to tying it when Shea Weber saved the day for Oslo by scoring a shorthanded goal. His back-breaker was in the middle of four Devil goals int he final 23-and-a-half minutes of the game. P-A Parenteau scored his first two goals of the season for Oslo and teammate Pavel Datsyuk notched his 7th. Milan Lucic of Gothenburg had a goal and two assists and was named the game’s first star. His teammate Erik Johnson was a minus 3 when he was involved in a very scary play late in the game. With 4:57 remaining, he raced to touch the puck on an icing and when he did, he was bumped from behind by Outlaw Matt D’Agostini. Johnson crashed head-first into the boards and remained prone on the ice until being taken away on a stretcher. D’Agostini, booed loudly by fans in the Gothenburg rink, received a 5-minute major penalty for checking from behind. Gothenburg defensemen Dan Girardi and Sheldon Souray both scored while D’Agostini was in the penalty box to bring the Devils to within one goal, but that’s as close as they could get. Johnson was taken to Sahlgrenska University Hospital but there was no word tonight on his condition. Gburg is likely to call upon either Chris Butler or John Moore to take Johnson’s place in the lineup. Oslo (5-2) is now tied for the conference lead with 10 points while Gothenburg (3-4) is in 7th place.