Paris 3, St. Petersburg 2
Les Rouges Eiffels took a one-goal lead into the third period, killed off 4 penalties, and still outshot their guests 18-7 that period to earn a win. Paris is now 9-5-2 and in 5th place overall, hardly looking like a team that missed the playoffs in Season 1. Corey Perry and David Perron combined for 3 goals on 13 shots Thursday and they are among 6 Paris forwards who have at least 40 shots this season through 16 games. Evgeny Malkin is their leader in goals, assists, points and shots and he’s swooping closer and closer to Ryan Getzlaf for the individual scoring lead. Malkin, Perry and Perron were the top three scorers for Paris last season, with 102, 85 and 54 points respectively, but they were all in the minus 30 range for their plus-minus. Even though they aren’t on the same line – Perron is currently with Alex Semin and Mike Ribeiro, while Joffrey Lupul mans the left side with Malkin and Perry – the trio seems to have turned it around this season and that has meant a gayer Gay Paris. Paris’ cast of characters isn’t much different this year from the way it was last year and the players have repaid General Manager Ralph Booth’s patience and confidence with a more consistent brand of hockey – and a much better winning percentage. Paris did acquire Lee Stempniak in a trade from Bratislava and he has scored 4 goals this year, but the newcomers who have contributed the most are rookie defensemen Jason Krog, age 31, and Ossi Vaananen, 26. In a season of sparkling rookie performances that were documented recently by the Athens Mounaki newspaper, Krog and Vaananen have quietly planted themselves into the discussion. Krog has a goal and 1o assists in 16 games, is a plus 6 and averages more than 2 hits per game. Vaananen has a few fewer assists but slightly more blocked shots and hits. If you lose consciousness for two years and then wake up again, you will be amazed at the quality of the Eiffels’ defense corps. Alex Pietrangelo, Kris Letang, Vaananen, Dmitro Orlov, Ken Kuusk, Ryan Ellis and T.J. Brodie are all good and all 26 years old or younger. On Thursday, Vaananen dished out 6 hits to make his presence felt.
Gothenburg 4, Bern 1 – Defensemen Dan Girardi and Stephane Robidas and winger Milan Lucic scored in the first period to get the Devils off to a 3-0 lead in the first period and they played the Bears even the rest of the way. Bern’s Derek Dorsett tried to spark his mates with a fight against Chris Kelly, but Gothenburg never buckled. Girardi scored again later to make it 4-0 before Henrik Zetterberg of Bern scored his 9th of the season to break up Anders Lindback’s shutout. Girardi also had an assist and 6 hits.
Copenhagen 6, Prague 2 – The Tridents scored four goals in the second period and one in the third to erase the 2-1 lead Prague had after one period. Finn Ville Peltonen scored twice on 4 shots and he now has 7 goals this season. Derek Roy picked up assists on both Peltonen goals and was the only other player with a multi-point game other than Prague’s Mike Weaver, a defenseman who scored a goal and added an assist. The league’s leading scorer, Ryan Getzlaf, had 5 shots on goal but was held scoreless by the Tridents and second star Roberto Luongo, who made 31 saves.
Zurich 4, Belfast 0 – The Lions and goalie Brian Elliott shutout the Giants 4-0 on Thursday. The Swiss team got goals from an American, a Russian, a Finn and a Czech – Patrick Kane, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jussi Jokinen and Michal Frolik. Rookies Alexander Radulov and Janne Niskala had 2 assists each. Both teams had 25 shots on goal and a lot of powerplay chances – 7 for Belfast and 9 for Zurich. Belfast’s Cody Hodgson and Matt Duchene led everyone in shots with 5 each, while Giant Tony Martensson had the most blocked shots with 4.
Moscow 3, Frankfurt 2 – Moscow Spartak jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals by Anze Kopitar (2) and David Bolland and Frankfurt tried to come back with goals by Matt Halischuk and Max Pacioretty in the second period, but Jaro Halak made many big saves in the third period to preserve the win. Moscow’s Aleksey Morozov had 8 shots on goal, while teammate Jason Garrison was credited with 4 hits and 2 blocked shots. Frankfurt defenseman Mike Lundin had 6 hits and Brian Boyle, an Inferno forward, had 4.
Athens 6, Berlin 1 – Mikka Kiprusoff and the Berlin Smurfs have played in Athens a few times before, but this was the first time Kiprusoff was wearing a Greek sweater. The veteran goalie was traded this week and his debut with Athens was against his former teammates. He didn’t let a single one of those former teammates score on him while making 26 saves, but he still didn’t get a shutout. Nathan Horton, who went to Berlin as part of the trade, scored with 2:49 remaining to help his new team avoid the shutout. Tomas Vincour scored a pair of third-period goals for Athens in just 9 minutes of ice time and he now has 3 goals on the season. Defensemen Nicklas Kronwall and Lubomir Visnovsky each had 2 assists.
