The playoffs opened Wednesday with three of the four favored teams jumping out to 1-0 leads in their series.
Dublin 6, Edinburgh 3
Dublin leads series 1-0
The Scots spent entirely too much time in the penalty box, giving one of the league’s best offenses more ice time and more space. Not a recipe for success. While the Fighting Irish managed to score just once on 10 PP chances, goal scoring king Bobby Ryan tallied twice to lead the way. He and four other players turned in 2-point efforts for Dublin. Edinburgh’s top line of John Tavares, Jamie Benn and James Neal, as well as top defense pair Jay Bouwmeester and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, will need to do better in the rest of the series. They were minus 3 as a unit Wednesday. James Wisniewski played well for the winners, blocking 4 shots and registering two hits. Both teams had Russians in goal, Ilya Bryzgalov for Edinburgh and Evgeny Nabakov for Dublin.
St. Petersburg 5, Helsinki 0
St. Petersburg leads series 1-0
In front of more than 17,000 home fans, the Red Stars cranked their game up to an elite level. They outshot Helsinki 52-22, including 25 third-period shots and Pekka Rinne recorded a shutout in goal. They tallied once on the power play and once while shorthanded, with Artem Anisimov scoring two goals. Defense partners Kevin Bieksa and Brent Burns were plus 3. Erik Cole, who reporters say is playing hurt, had a goal and an assist. Jack Johnson played well for Helsinki, getting a team-high 5 shots on goal, with 5 hits and 2 blocked shots.
Oslo 6, Moscow 4
Oslo leads series 1-0
The only upset of the evening occurred in Moscow, where the Norwegians owned the last half of each period. Moscow jumped in front 2-0 before the game was 3 minutes old, but Oslo countered with three in the final 10 minutes of the first period. An Alexey Morozov goal tied the game for Moscow early in the second, but Oslo quieted the home crowd of 21,206 and pulled away with three more goals in the final 4:28 of the second period. P-A Parenteau was the offensive star of the game, scoring 2 and adding 2 assists. Oslo teammate Pavel Datsyuk had 4 assists, Alex Burrows had 3 points and Daniel Sedin was plus 2 with 2 assists for the winners. Rich Peverley was Moscow’s best player, scoring a power play goal and getting 2 assists. Moscow’s best chance to get back in the game – a 5-minute power play thanks to a Sedin major penalty – was wasted after one minute because Duncan Keith committed the same infraction.
Copenhagen 5, Gothenburg 2
Copenhagen leads series 1-0
The President’s Trophy winners outshot the eighth seed 40-27 and were able to win without a single power play advantage. Dany Heatley scored a goal to tie the game at 1-1 in the first period and then scored again half-way through the second to give the Tridents a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. He ended up with a game-high 7 shots on goal and three points. Stephen Weiss also had 3 points for Copenhagen. Martin Brodeur made 35 saves for the Devils, while Roberto Luongo stopped 25 Gothenburg shots at the other end. Copenhagen’s Alex Goligoski and Mark Giordano took two penalties each but finished as plus players.
