Geneva, Athens and Moscow have moved on to the second round of the EURO League playoffs, with three Games 7s on the slate for tonight and one more in the morning.
Lehtonen, Stuart ground the Eagles
Geneva beats Bratislava in series, 4-2
Kari Lehtonen shut out Bratislava Wednesday morning and ushered the Eagles out of the playoffs in the process. He made 29 saves. At the other end of the rink, Craig Anderson allowed just one goal in 23 shots, but boy, was it a big one. Brad Stuart took a D-to-D pass from Michael Del Zotto and then blasted a slapshot that zipped into the net through Anderson. The goal came about halfway through the game and held up even as both teams picked up the pace in the third period. Stuart has played in every game for the Generals this season. He scored 9 goals in the regular season and now has 5 goals and 10 points in 27 EURO playoffs games.
Shipachyov-Oshie-Ryder propel Greeks
Athens beats Zurich in series, 4-2
The Athens Greeks, led by the line of T.J. Oshie, Michael Ryder and rookie Vadim Shipachyov, built a 5-1 lead by the beginning of the third period in Zurich and barely held on to advance. Shipachyov scored the game’s second goal, his third of the playoffs, and assisted on Johnny Boychuk’s second-period tally that ended up being the series-winning goal. Zurich mounted a furious comeback, scoring three times in the third, but with 5:02 remaining, the momentum was stopped cold when they were whistled for two minor penalties. They successfully killed off the 5-on-3, but couldn’t put real pressure on Athens after that. Oshie and Shipachyov lead all scorers in the playoffs with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Those two and linemate Ryder are the three top players in the league in terms of plus-minus ratings.
Moscow rolls to 4th straight win
Moscow beats Oslo in series, 4-2
After losing three straight and relinquishing a 2-0 series lead to favored Moscow Spartak, the Oslo Outlaws seemed to say uncle in Game 6. It didn’t help that Oslo’s Daniel Sedin left midway through period one with an injury. Moscow coasted to a 6-4 win, outshooting the Outlaws 38-17 in the process. The game was tied 2-2 after a period, but Moscow took firm control in the second, outshooting the Norwegian team 20-4 and getting goals from Anze Kopitar and Filip Kuba. When David Jones and Aleksey Morozov scored powerplay goals in the third, it was all but over for Oslo. Andrew Ladd of Moscow was named the game’s first star after racking up 2 goals and 2 assists. Kopitar had three points and won 23 of 31 faceoffs. Oslo’s best and most spirited player was Mikhail Grabovski, who compiled 3 points, 3 hits and 2 blocked shots. Kevin Dallman of Moscow is the only defenseman in the league averaging more than a point per game in the playoffs. He has 2 goals and 5 assists through 6 games.
Cammalleri OT goal keeps Bern alive
Munich-Bern series tied at 3-3
Mike Cammalleri scored 4:45 into overtime to keep the Bears alive and force a Game 7 in Munich. On the game-winning play, Andy McDonald of Bern poke-checked Fox forward Torrey Mitchell in the neutral zone and swatted the puck forward. Cammalleri won a race for the puck, tipped it past defenseman Matt Gilroy and zoomed in on a breakaway with 19,604 Swiss robustly urging him to beat Munich goalie Jonathan Quick. He did. It was the third straight Bern goal in the game, after defensemen Marc-Andre Gragnani and Dan Boyle scored to give Munich a 2-0 lead. Radim Vrbata and then Pascal Dupuis scored for the Bears to erase the lead. McDonald, who played 18 minutes Wednesday, is said to have a lower body injury. He has been in and out of the series so far and may not be able to go in Game 7. Bern is also missing Jason Spezza.
Nodl emerges as unlikely star for Edinburgh
Dublin-Edinburgh series tied at 3-3
Andreas Nodl got to play in Tuesday night’s game only because Jamie Benn went down with an injury the game before, but today, Nodl is the prettiest word in Scotland. During the regular season, Nodl played in 10 games and tallied 1 assist. On Tuesday, he scored twice on Tim Thomas, the second one winning it in overtime. Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Andrew Cogliano assisted on the winner 10:23 into overtime. Milan Michalek has scored in every playoff game for the Fighting Irish and his 7th of the playoffs tied the game in the third period. Nodl, who played just 8 minutes, as well as teammates Derek Stepan and Andrei Kostitsyn had 2 points each in the game, while Michalek did the same for Dublin. Ilya Bryzgalov made 30 saves for Edinburgh. The series will end tonight in Ireland, where the favored Fighting Irish are 1-2 this series.
Nervous times in Copenhagen before Game 7
Copenhagen-Gothenburg series tied at 3-3
A lackluster performance in Game 6 in Sweden has supporters of the league’s best team very anxious today. Alexander Ovechkin scored in the first period to give Copenhagen a lead and visions of advancement. But they seemed to become complacent after that goal and were outshot 25-12 over the final two periods. Goalie Roberto Luongo fended off the Gothenburg attack throughout the second period, but he yielded two goals in the third period off the sticks of defensemen John Carlson and Petr Vrana. Vinny Lecavalier had assists on both shots. Gothenburg goalie Martin Brodeur, who has been inconsistent in the playoff series, stopped 18 of 19 Copenhagen shots.
Helsinki forces Game 7 with 2-1 win
St. Petersburg-Helsinki series tied at 3-3
For the second time in the series, St. Petersburg has followed a completely dominant performance with a bad effort. This time, the Red Stars went into Helsinki after a 6-1 win on Monday and lost 2-1 to the Jokerit, being outshot 41-24 in the process. Marty St. Louis scored his second of the playoffs in the second period to put the Stars up 1-0, but Helsinki was able to rally and win it. Paul Stastny tallied his second of the series to tie the game 8 minutes into the third period, and then two-and-a-half minutes later, Dainus Zubrus scored his second of the post season to give Helsinki the lead. Henrik Lundqvist never allowed anything else to get past him after the St. Louis goal. Three late penalties hurt the St. Petersburg cause. In fact, the Zubrus game-winner came while St. Louis was serving a diving minor.
