Moscow has taken a 2-0 lead in the Northern Conference finals series, allowing just one Copenhagen goal in the process. And both wins came on the road.  The games have been very evenly played thus far, with the Tridents are adhering to their game plan, not taking many penalties and outshooting Spartak by a shot in each game, but 28-year-old Jaroslav Halak has been fabulous.  The second biggest thorn in the Tridents’ side might be former Trident Andrew Ladd, who has scored in both games and added an assist. Moscow coach Glen Gulutzan has his lineup set up in a – let’s be nice and call it an unconventional way.  Ladd is currently the left wing on the second line with Brandon Sutter and Aleksey Morozov. On the powerplay, Gulutzan moves Morozov up and over, playing the left wing on the top unit. While that unit has two right wings, the second unit has two left wings – Ladd and Chris Higgins. When they are in 4-4 or 4-on-3 situations, Ladd takes faceoffs on the second unit with Derek Roy, a center, playing on his wing. It all works pretty well, because the boys from Moscow finished the regular season second in powerplay efficiency. Copenhagen dispatched Minsk and St. Petersburg in the first two rounds of the playoffs, winning 8 of 11 games. They will have to come up with at least one road win to keep their Cup dreams chugging along. Both teams are healthy as they head to Moscow, where Copenhagen’s Alexander Ovechkin hopes to beat his former teammates in front of his former fans.

Athens gave Berlin a three-game head start last series, and they seem to be using the same tactic against Paris. Les Rouges Eiffels won the first game of the series 5-1 and then took Game 2 when Lee Stempniak came up with his second goal of the playoffs about 4 and a half minutes into sudden death overtime of a 4-3 game. Mike Ribeiro and Kris Letang have each scored two goals in the series so far for Paris, while Michael Ryder has done the same for the Greeks. Corey Perry, who had to fight several fights in the previous series against Bratislava, got into a scrap in Game 1 with Staffan Kronwall. Perry and linemates Evgeny Malkin and Joffrey Lupul each has 3 points in the two games. Athens’ rough and tumble style might have opened the door a crack for them because Paris coach Michel Therrien will have to find a replacement for second-pairing defenseman Ken Kuusk. The Estonian-born Kuusk was skating the puck out of his zone along the right boards in Game 2 when he was stood up just inside the blueline by Kronwall’s big brother Niklas. Kuusk, who scored 9 goals and 29 points in the regular season, is said to have sustained an “upper body” injury. Therrien will probably go with either Alexander Sulzer, who played 2 games during the regular season, or Jack Hillen, who played 4 games.