The Hussars made the first playoff game played in Minsk memorable for the 17,806 fans who were there. Unfortunately for them, they lost another forward to injury. Without Nicklas Backstrom in the lineup, the Hussars were on the losing end of a 4-2 score through two periods against Copenhagen. The only Minsk player who was having any luck was Sergei Kostitsyn. In fact, he scored bother their goals, one in each period. So if there was one person they couldn’t afford to lose today, it was Kostitsyn. A minute and a half into the final period, while he was out there trying for a hat trick goal that would have reduced the Copenhagen lead to one, Kostitsyn tried to dodge a Andrej Meszaros check but instead caught his leg on Meszaros’ and fell hard near the boards. He rolled on the ice for a few seconds and skated to the bench and right into the dressing room, being diagnosed later with a wrist injury that will likely mean he’s done for the series along with Backstrom. But a strange thing happened in Minsk after the injury. The Hussars kept plugging along and drew a penalty to Stephen Weiss. Alexander Burmistrov scored on the ensuing powerplay to give them a little hope. But they seemed to blow it when Thomas Powell and Burmistrov were called for penalties five seconds apart. The 1:55 of 5-on-3 play was harrowing, but goalie Carey Price held, they survived and the big penalty kill made the building noticeably louder. Heading into the final 4 minutes of play, Hussar fans screamed for a tying goal and the players seemed to pick up the intensity level.  A scrum in front of the Copenhagen net resulted in two Copenhagen minors at once – Nic Grossman for interference and Ryan Whitney for a controversial diving call.  If Minsk was going to tie the game, this was probably going to be their last chance.  Eighteen seconds into the 5-on-3, Powell cashed in to tie it. Grossman left the penalty box, but Whitney had to stay, and for the fourth time in the game, the Minsk powerplay came up with a goal. This time, Jakub Voracek did the hard work, stealing the puck from Alex Goligoski as he was looking for an opening to clear it down ice. Voracek slid it over to Milan Lucic in the slot and the big winger ripped it past Roberto Luongo to make it 5-4 Minsk. The arena was deafening and with just under three minutes to play, it seemed Copenhagen had all the wind taken from their sails. Minsk added an empty-net goal and they now lead the series 2 games to 1. Game 4: Minsk will be without Backstrom and Kostitsyn, they are the eighth seed and they have just one skater older than 25.  Maybe they are just too inexperienced to know they can’t possibly beat the best team in the league in a 7-game series. For Copenhagen’s part, they have to loosen the grip on their sticks. A come from behind win in a series would do their confidence wonders. They have some veterans with leadership, like Alex Ovechkin, Shea Weber, Brooks Laich, Weiss and Luongo. Those five will be asked to really earn their money and right the ship.

Home sweet home ice advantage is what the St. Petersburg Red Stars needed to get back into their series with Dublin. Cam Atkinson scored two goals for the Russian squad as they won 6-4. St. Petersburg outshot the Irish in every period and led 5-1 at one point in the second period. All five of the winning team’s goal scorers hadn’t scored yet in the playoffs: Atkinson, Brad Richards, Blake Wheeler, Viktor Stalberg and Jonathan Huberdeau. The same can be said of Dublin’s Phil Kessel (2 goals) and Bobby Ryan, while Jakub Silfverberg scored his fourth of the playoffs. Jeff Petry has played well for the Red Stars in the playoffs, he leads his team in hits with 11 through three games and is tied for third in takeaways with 4. Game 4: St. Petersburg did a much better job of generating offense in front of Tim Thomas on Saturday. But Dublin isn’t the team you want to challange to a score-off. Improving their defensive play is still prescribed for Petrograd.  Look for Dublin’s Ryan to do some damage in Game 4. He’s due.  No one on the team gets more minutes per game than he does, but Ryan has just one point to show for it so far.

In the most evenly matched series of the playoffs, Gothenburg has to feel they were robbed by Henrik Lundqvist on Sunday. But the Jokerit’s fourth line came through in the clutch, working their way to a winning goal seven and a half minutes into overtime. Justin Abdelkader slid a backhand through Antti Niemi’s five hole to end it after good work in the Devils zone by linemates Brayden Schenn and Eliezer Sherbatov. It was that line’s second goal of the playoffs and Abdelkader now leads the team in goal scoring with 2. A decision by Helsinki coach Barry Trotz to start rookie Jacob Trouba over vet Chris Phillips paid off in a big way. Trouba had assists on first-period goals by Paul Stastny and Ryan Smyth and he was a plus 2.  Playing on home ice, Gothenburg was able to tie the game in the third period and send it to overtime. Eric Staal and Marty St. Louis both scored powerplay goals. The Devils probably deserved a better fate. They outshot Helsinki 42-26 in the game and 7-3 in overtime.  Game 4: Gothenburg must start in the first period. On Sunday, they started in the second period, being outshot 13-3 by the visiting team in a first period they lost 2-0. That took the crowd out of the game and there was ample evidence during the regular season that the crowd in western Sweden is one of the Devils’ best weapons.  Trotz probably feels more comfortable with the decision to start Trouba, but he will keep an anxious eye on the rookie if he plays again Tuesday.

Moscow took a 2-1 series lead Sunday with a 4-2 win in Edinburgh.  Brandon Sutter broke a 2-2 tie in the third period with his second goal of the playoffs, and then he set up Dustin Brown 6 minutes later for an insurance goal. Sutter, Brown and Chris Higgins all had 2 points for Spartak. The home crowd got to cheer goals by Luke Schenn and John Tavares. Both tallies tied the game. Moscow started fast, outshooting the Caps 10-3  in the first period and they ended slowly. But 2 of their 5 third-period shots got past James Reimer, who made his second start in a row for Edinburgh. Game 4: The Capitals did extremely well on faceoffs in Game 3, they outhit Moscow 31-20 and outshot them 28-24. They also had 5 powerplays to Moscow’s 2. Those kind of numbers should equal wins.  Another big save, a big hit  and another goal and things will be different in Game 4.  Moscow’s team doctors say Anze Kopitar is close to returning to the lineup.  The win in Game 3 should leave Spartak feeling less desperate to rush him back.