Berlin 7, Bern 3
Almost 20,000 Berlin fans watched their team crush the Bern Bears Tuesday, but their cheers were tempered by the loss of center Logan Couture, who went down and out with a shoulder injury in the third period. Couture contributed to the win with a plus 2 effort that included a goal and an assist. He may miss significant time, perhaps two months of play. Former Bear Ray Whitney scored a goal and an assist against his former teammates, and Kris Versteeg outdid everyone with a goal and two assists. Berlin outshot Bern 33-17 in a battle of backup goalies. Bern’s top line of Henrik Zetterberg, Jason Spezza and Radim Vrbata produced a goal but were minus 3 as a unit. The Smurf powerplay looked mighty, scoring 3 times in 5 chances.
St. Petersburg 4, Minsk 1
Patrik Hornquist put the Hussars in front early, but the Red Stars powerplay clicked three times in the first and second periods to put the home team in front 3-0. Blake Wheeler scored two of those powerplay goals, Brent Burns the other, and Jarome Iginla added a third-period goal for good measure. Colin Wilson’s checking from behind major penalty turned the game around in the first period. The Minsk forward was in the box when Wheeler scored his first goal, and then Wilson was joined in the sin bin by teammate Brayden Schenn to give St. Petersburg a two-man advantage that Burns ended with a close-in slapshot. Petrograd jumped 2 points ahead of Minsk and into 5th place in the Northern Conference.
Frankfurt 6, Bratislava 4
Max Pacioretty scored twice and added an assist as the Inferno defeated visiting Bratislava. The Eagles had more shots on goal than the Inferno did, but Bratislava goalie Craig Anderson looked sluggish. Defensemen Drew Doughty and Yannick Weber each scored his first goal of the season and winger Alex Steen netted goal number 6 of the year. Steen has one more goal than his teammate, league MVP and Season 1 scoring champ Steven Stamkos, and is tied for third in the league in goals. Frankfurt is now 2-4-2. Bratislava’s bright spot was Marian Hossa, who scored a goal and two assists along with 3 blocked shots.
Moscow 6, Belfast 1
The most impressive part of Moscow’s 6-1 shellacking of visiting Belfast came in the third period, with the outcome already known, when Alexander Sulzer scored the final goal. It wasn’t the fact that Sulzer’s wrist shot found a few holes in a maze of players and went into the net that was impressive. It was that a few seconds earlier, he blocked a clearing attempt, hurt his ankle, kept playing and scored. Sulzer limped off the ice after a short and subdued goal celebration and is expected to be out of the Spartak lineup for about 2 weeks. Moscow’s Rich Peverley came into the game with 6 goals and no assists and recorded one of each against the Giants. He was playing on a line with Anze Kopitar and Aleksey Morozov, who is filling in for injured Alex Ovechkin. Morozov scored twice on Belfast’s Cory Schneider. Second line center Alexei Kaluzhny has opened a lot of eyes around Moscow for his playmaking ability and overall play. The rookie has 6 assists and is a plus 6 in 8 games. Tony Martensson of Belfast scored the Giants’ only goal against Jaroslav Halak.
Munich 2, Geneva 1 (OT)
The Fox had the toughest assignment of the three German teams on Tuesday, but they came through with an overtime win to complete a sweep for Deutschland. Munich outshot the defending champs 33-27 and were tied with or ahead of the Generals for 58 of the game’s 60 minutes of regulation time. They were fortunate enough to get a goal by Chris Higgins, his second of the year, in the second period and were holding their tenuous lead until Mike Fisher scored on the powerplay with less than 2 minutes to play. Munich’s Brooks Laich put his team in a predicament by taking a penalty in the overtime period, but Geneva’s Michael Del Zotto of Geneva was called for high sticking about a minute later. Laich left the box and gave Munich a 4-on-3 advantage, which Munich parlayed into a pretty goal culminated by a Joe Thornton deke and pass to a wide open Milan Hejduk, who rapped it in. Higgins of Munich showed a lot of determination throughout the game, scoring the second period goal and leading everyone with 3 blocked shots.
Oslo 2, Edinburgh 1
The Outlaws and host Capitals played about as even a game as two teams could play. Both had 34 shots on goal, Edinburgh had 9 powerplays and Oslo had 8. Oslo’s penalty killing was perfect; Edinburgh’s was only almost perfect. The biggest difference in play was in the hitting. Oslo was credited with 31 hits, Edinburgh just 15. Outlaw P-A Parenteau, who earlier assisted on Daniel Sedin’s 3rd goal of the season to give Oslo a 1-0 lead, really stuck the dagger into the home fans by squeezing in the game-winning goal with just 1 second left on the clock in regulation. Edinburgh’s Wayne Simmonds scored his first of the year to tie the game at 1-1 in the second period. Fredrick Norrena was marvelous between the pipes for Oslo, making 33 saves, while Ilya Bryzgalov nearly matched him with 32 saves. The outcome sank the Capitals to the very bottom of the league standings, while Oslo (6-2) became one of four teams at the top of the list with 12 points.
