Madrid 5, Belfast 3

Belfast scored two quick goals and were able to tie the game in the third period, but Madrid was the better team and got the win they deserved. R.J. Umberger got the Royals into the game with a pair of goals in the first period, his 5th and 6th of the year, scored 14 seconds apart. Ryan Johansen assisted on both goals.  After a scoreless second period, Joe Pavelski set up Gabriel Landeskog for the goal-ahead goal for Madrid, but impressive Belfast rookie Tony Martensson scored to tie it less than a minute later. Pavelski came through in the clutch with a goal to put the Royals in front late in the game. Madrid outshot the Giants 41-16, Ondrej Pavelec getting the workout for Belfast. Madrid is now 6-3 and Belfast drops to 3-6. For the second time this week, Madrid has to play back-to-back games. On Friday, they will fly over the Pyrenees, across the south of France and to the Alps region to play in Milan. Pavelski leads the team in scoring with 12 points in 9 games, while Umberger’s 6 goals gives him the team lead in that category. Defense partners Roman Polak and Mark Streit weren’t leading the team in plus/minus until their plus 4 performance against the Giants on Thursday vaulted them over their teammates in that stat.

Other highlights from Thursday:

• Copenhagen 5, Moscow 1 – Aleksey Morozov gave Moscow a first-period lead, but the Tridents dominated from that point and scored five unanswered goals. Stephen Weiss scored twice and had one assist, while linemate Dany Heatley recorded a goal and 2 assists. Weiss has 7 goals this season.
• Stockholm 4, Dublin 2 – There were a lot of shots and a lot of goalie saves in this game. Dublin outshot the host Spartans 43-38, but Cam Ward made 41 saves and was named the first star. Stockholm scored three straight goals to tie and then overtake Dublin and they didn’t relinquish that lead. Mark Giordano had a goal, an assist and 7 hits for Stockholm.
• Geneva 6, Berlin 5– Berlin had to play catch-up from when Mike Fisher scored for Geneva 7 and a half minutes into the game and they never could grab the lead. Geneva pulled away a little with three consecutive goals in the second period. Fisher ended the game with 2 goals, while teammates Niklas Lidstrom and Patrick Marleau each had 3 points. Matt Read was the top Smurf, getting 2 assists and playing plus 3 hockey. There were 20 penalties called in the game.
• Oslo 3, Gothenburg 2 – Ryan Suter’s slapshot in overtime won the game for the team from Norway. Pavel Datsyuk and Daniel Briere each had 2 assists for the Outlaws, while Gothenburg got goals from Milan Lucic and Adam Henrique. Oslo goalie Fredrik Norrena got the win by making 33 saves – one more than Martin Brodeur made in the Gothenburg goal. It was the second straight game in which Norrena made 33 saves and won for the Outlaws. Thursday’s win was the second time this week that Oslo beat the Devils by a goal and the third time in three meetings that went Oslo’s way.
• Milan 5, London 1 – Antti Niemi stopped all but one of London’s shots, but his team was relentless in front of him, getting 43 shots on Marc-Andre Fleury in the Dons goal. London scored first on a Jake Gardiner goal and entered the second period up 1-0. But Milan poured it one, with five goals over the final two periods. Gerhard Unterluggauer scored his first EURO goal, had an assist and was named the game’s first star. He and defense partner Dustin Byfuglien were plus 3.