Edinburgh 3, Oslo 2

Although his team is currently in 18th place, Coach Lindy Ruff has the Edinburgh Capitals moving up in the standings. The Scots are 6-3-1 in there last 10 games and tied for seventh place in the Northern Conference. Their big problem was their slow start. They were only 2-7 before that 10-game stretch. This week has been a good one for Edinburgh because they defeated Oslo, a good  team that’s one of their Ahearne Division rivals, twice. On Wednesday, it was a one-goal win with goalie Ilya Bryzgalov emerging as the hero. He made 34 saves and held the fort just enough in the third period with his team up 3-1 after getting goals from Jamie Benn (his 3rd of the season), John Tavares (11th) and Kyle Wellwood (2nd). Edinburgh’s penalty killers deserve credit as well, as they snuffed 9 of Oslo’s 10 powerplay chances. Karl Alzner, Andy Greene, Dan Winnick and Brandon Dubinsky make up the top PK unit for the Caps. When they are even strength, Winnick and Dubinsky team with Chris Stewart to make up a good third line for the Capitals. In fact, those three are the team’s top plus-minus players by a good margin while playing between 11-13 minutes per game. Dubinsky has 9 points, which is down the team scoring list a bit, but he is among the leaders in just about every other category, among forwards at least. Bryzgalov, who came to Edinburgh in a trade with Helsinki last season, has picked up his game recently but his statistics are still lagging below average. His save percentage is 25th in the league and backup James Reimer’s is below that. The Capitals will now play four games outside their division including a home-and-home series with Madrid next week. Fortunately, they are one of the 11 teams in the league who do not have a player currently on the injured reserve list. Oslo defenseman David Petrasek played very well Wednesday, getting an assist and being credited with 5 hits and 3 blocked shots.

Paris 5, Prague 4 (OT) – Evgeni Malkin wired a shot between Steve Mason’s arm and body with 3:07 remaining in overtime to complete an impressive comeback by Les Rouges Eiffels. Prague started the game perfectly, scoring four goals in a 14-minute stretch of the first period. One of those goals was Zach Parise’s 10th of the season and 41st of his EURO career, while another goal was Nail Yakupov’s first. Then Paris went to work. Carlo Colaiacovo assisted on two of the Eiffels’ next three goals and David Perron notched his 10th goal of the year in the third period to tie the game. Malkin, who had two assists in the game before OT, scored his 12th of the season to win it. Paris trailed in shots on goal 24-18 after two periods, but they outshot Sparta 17-5 over the last period and overtime. Niclas Grossman had 6 hits for Prague, while Paris defenseman Mike Green blocked 4 shots.

Munich 2, Berlin 1  (OT) – Joe Corvo scored the game-winner in overtime for the Fox and Milan Hejduk and Joe Thornton had a hand in both Munich goals. Both Munich goals were powerplay goals. Kris Versteeg of Berlin was called for diving in overtime and was in the box when Corvo scored. Munich played with fire by taking 8 penalties, but they allowed no powerplay goals and limited Berlin to 25 shots in the game. Matthew Carle scored his second goal of the season for Berlin to make it 1-0, but Jonathan Quick pitched a shutout the rest of the way.

Copenhagen 4, Milan 3 – Milan did almost exactly what Munich did Wednesday – gave their opponent 8 powerplays, killed them all and limited their foes to 26 shots – but they ended up on the wrong side of a one-goal score. The first period was a frenzied mess with both teams scoring 3 goals and Milan outshooting Copenhagen 17-8. Then they clamped down the defense and only one more goal was scored – a second-period tally by Andrew Ladd, his 4th of the season. Four Trident players had two point nights including defenseman Carl Gunnarsson who was selected as the game’s first star.

Zurich 4, London 3 – The Lions outshot London 31-19 and Jussi Jokinen scored a goal to make it six straight games with a goal. Nicklas Backstrom earned the win in net for Zurich and he got run support from Jokinen, Patrick Kane, Ilya Kovalchuk and rookie Martin Thornburg, who has played in 9 games this season and has 2 goals. Zurich dominated in faceoffs, led by Patrice Bergeron, who was 25 of 32. London’s Jeff Skinner, on the other hand, was a dismal 3 of 19. His teammate Tyler Seguin was hot, scoring two goals to give him 5 on the season.

Madrid 4, Bratislava 3 (OT) – Joe Pavelski scored his 8th of the season in overtime to send 14,871 Bratislava fans home with their heads down. The home team outshot Madrid 33-24, but the Royals were able to kill off all 5 powerplays they granted the Eagles. And they got goals from Gabriel Landeskog, Mark Streit and Radek Dvorak during regulation time. Jonathan Toews scored a shorthanded goal and Tim Connolly and Zdeno Chara also scored for Bratislava. Their Chinese rookie teammate Weiyang Zhang is making a name for himself as a pugilist. The 6-3, 243-pounder has played in 5 games for the Eagles and has been in two fights. This time his opponent was Brandon Prust in the third period and Prust definitely won that one. Six other players in the league have been in two fights, but they have all played 17 games or more.