London 6, St. Petersburg 3
Defenseman Jake Gardiner recorded a hat trick as the London Dons downed the notoriously slow-starting St. Petersburg Red Stars 6-3 on Tuesday for their third straight win. Gardiner played 29 minutes and also had 3 hits and 2 blocked shots. London was 3-6 until three games ago, when they shut down Minsk 3-1 and Belfast 6-1 before Tuesday’s game. Marc-Andre Fleury was in goal all three times, making 37, 17 and 34 saves to really turn his season around. The French-Canadian goalie has a 3.73 goals against average and an .892 save percentage to go along with his 5-6 win-loss record. Last season, Fleury finished with a 2.95 goals against and .900 save rate. But the really impressive part of the Dons’ season thus far has been their dangerous powerplay units. They went 1 of 5 against Petrograd and that is considered poor by London standards. They entered the contest with a league-leading 32.8 success rate for coach Ken Hitchcock. Last season, the Dons’ powerplay was third worst in the EURO at 14.9 percent. Up front, David Clarkson has regularly gotten his name onto scoresheets – for good and bar reasons. In 12 games, Clarkson has 13 points to tie Tyler Bozak for the team lead. His 17 minutes in penalties puts him atop the London list in that category and he has a zero plus-minus rating. London must be running into a lot of left-wing lock defenses because there are 3 centers, 3 right wings and 3 defenseman ahead of the team’s highest scoring left wing, Sean Bergenheim and his whopping 5 points. Taylor Hall has disappointed (yes, he has a pretty serious shoulder problem) with only 3 points in 7 games. London is currently in 14th place and tied for 6th in their conference. Fourteenth is where they placed last season before being ousted in 5 games of the playoffs.
Copenhagen 6, Oslo 5
That’s two one-goal victories in two days at home against Oslo. This time, Oslo led 4-2 about halfway through it before the Tridents, led by Derek Roy, stung them for four straight. Roy scored his first of the year at even strength before tying the game with a powerplay tally. The leading scorers in the game were Teddy Purcell of Copenhagen with 3 assists and Pavel Datsyuk of Oslo with a goal and 2 assists. Datsyuk was also an impressive 24 of 36 in the faceoff circle. Backup goalies Jonas Hiller and Fredrik Norrena started, with Hiller doing a goal better for the home team. Hiller got help from defenseman Kevin Dallman, who blocked 4 Outlaws shots.
Paris 6, Bratislava 1
Mike Ribeiro and Kris Letang each had a goal and 2 assists for Les Rouge Eiffels who blistered Eagle backup goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. Corey Perry, Evgeni Malkin and Joffrey Lupul all had 2 points for Paris, with Zdeno Chara scoring to ruin a shutout bid by Tuukka Rask. Paris did not take a penalty on Tuesday and their powerplay scored once in 3 man-advantage situations. Helsinki coach Barry Trotz said he is looking for more consistency from his Jokerit. “We’ve lost four of six, and we aren’t playing like we did at the start of the year. Just like last season, we’re too inconsistent. I wish I had the answers,” he said. “We lost to a very good Bratislava team tonight, but we can’t use that as an excuse. We need to find a way to score some goals.”
Edinburgh 4, Helsinki 2
The third period started 2-2, but two quick goals by the Capitals but Helsinki in a hole they couldn’t claw their way out of. Playing in front of James Reimer, Edinburgh outshot the Jokerit 14-6 in that period and 39-23 in the game. Wayne Simmonds scored the first and last goals for Edinburgh, while Clarke MacArthur and Derek Stepan both had 3-point nights. Jay Bouwmeester was stellar on the Caps’ blueline, blocking 5 shots and dealing out 2 hits.
Moscow 5, Gothenburg 2
Moscow Spartak took advantage of a hurting Gothenburg defense corps for a comeback victory. Gothenburg, with defenseman John Carlson, Stephane Robidas and Erik Johnson all out with injuries, had to sign former Gothenburg regular Johnny Oduya before the game. Oduya did not have a team this year and was home in his native Stockholm but was able to make the 5-hour drive across the country to join his team before they flew to Moscow. Spartak, with an ailing defenseman of their own (Alex Sulzer), trailed 2-0 after one period but made it 2-2 as the third period began. Then Jason Garrison scored on a slapshot to give Moscow its first lead of the game and in the final minute, with Marty Brodeur sitting on the bench in favor of an extra attacker, and Moscow’s David Bolland sitting in the penalty box to serve a diving minor, Rich Peverley put it away for Moscow with his 8th goal of the season and then Spartak added insult to Gothenburg’s injuries by scoring with less than a second left in the game.
Dublin 6, Frankfurt 2
The Fighting Irish dominated and outshot the Inferno 39-18, scoring 4 times in 10 powerplay opportunities. Tomas Plekanec led all scorers with 2 goals and an assist. Five of Plekanec’s teammates had 2-point nights. Frankfurt’s Stamkos line managed one goal and had 10 of their team’s 18 shots.
