Rose, in the league office in Vienna, took some time out from shopping online this morning to jot down a few observations from games played Tuesday in the EURO League:
- Jack Johnson, Helsinki’s 26-year-old defenseman, was named the second star of the game that the Jokerit lost 5-4 to Zurich. She said she and the media who voted apparently have different interpretations on what is first star material. Johnson scored two goals, was plus 2, and managed to deliver 10 hits without taking a penalty.
- Barret Jackman of Frankfurt also had a good game on the blueline, with 7 hits and 4 blocked shots, but his team lost 5-2 in St. Petersburg in a contentious affair. The Inferno took 3 unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after a spirited fight in the first period that featured St. Petersburg’s 6-3, 228-pound rookie defenseman Brenden Dillon against second-year man Jonas Holos, a feisty Norwegian who gave up 4 inches and nearly 30 pounds to Dillon. The rookie won the tussle, according to 17,111 Red Stars fans and most unattached onlookers.
- David Backes, man. How about it? The league’s leading assist-getter scored two goals in the second period to put Athens ahead of Geneva 4-1 and then he added a hat trick goal in the third period. He now trails Logan Couture of Berlin by one in the points race. Athens outshot Geneva 35-21.
- Moscow’s new big line has gotten past the handshake phase and are onto the lockerroom-banter stage, but they haven’t yet reached the putting-plays-together-on-the-ice phase. Newly acquired Dustin Brown managed to get an assist against Belfast, but his new linemates weren’t on the ice at the time. Brown, Anze Kopitar and Andrew Ladd combined for 10 shots, which is an encouraging sign for Spartak coach Glen Gulutzan. Rose also wanted to point out that Belfast’s Marcel Goc scored his first goal of the season. Goc played 109 games for the Giants over the previous two seasons, but has only appeared in two games this season. We think she has a thing for Goc.
- Adam Henrique and Jordan Eberle scored two goals apiece to lead Gothenburg over Dublin in Ireland.
- Copenhagen outshot Oslo 36-18 in Oslo en route to a 2-0 win. Trident forward Matt Moulson took an Alexander Ovechkin pass and scored the only goal of the game until an empty-netter at the end. Nice job by goalies Jimmy Howard of Oslo and Roberto Luongo of Copenhagen, says Rose.
- The Tridents lost a defenseman to the waiver wire on Tuesday. Fedor Tyutin was seeing only spot duty on the Copenhagen blueline, was waived, and then claimed by Madrid. The 30-year-old Russian has three years remaining on a $2.8 million contract and played regularly for the Tridents in the past, putting together two very similar seasons. Madrid can expect to get about 20 points, 40 penalty minutes, 60 shot blocks and 160 hits from him. That is if he can get regular playing time. If he does, that will mean more bench time – and possibly a waiver – for either Sergei Gonchar, Kevin Klein or Roman Polak. Center Jordan Staal, who is sidelined with his second “upper body” injury of the season, will be back any day now and once he is, Madrid will be over the cap. Decision time for coach Dan Bylsma and GM Roland Lavoie. The Royals sit 2 points out of 8th place in the Southern Conference.
- A reminder: If you haven’t voted yet for a city to host the all-star game, please do before noon EST Thursday.
