London 4, Belfast 1 – The Dons scored a 4-1 win in hostile territory by getting great goaltending and making the most of the their chances. Marc-Andre Fleury saved all but one of the Giants’ 43 shots and Jeff Skinner and Taylor Hall had 3 points apiece. Zach Bogosian wasn’t named among the game’s three stars, but it should have been. The defenseman had a goal and an assist, was plus 2, and had 4 hits and 3 blocked shots. Belfast star Sid Crosby is still nursing a back injury but is expected to be back in the lineup this time next week, if not sooner.
Zurich 6, Copenhagen 3 – Roberto Luongo stopped 37 of his former team’s shots to halt the Tridents in Switzerland. Patrice Bergeron and Patrick Kane each scored 2 goals, while Alexander Radulov and Ilya Kovalchuk each had 2 assists. The Lions Dan Hamhuis and Tyson Barrie were plus 3 for the game.
Prague 5, Milan 4 – Prague won by a goal for the second time in two nights. The game was a close one. Milan outshot the Cats 33-25 and it went to a shootout where Bryan Little scored in round 6 to win it. Milan’s Derek Roy and Nicklas Danielsson had 3 points each in the loss and Milan’s powerplay was a perfect 3 for 3.
Madrid 2, Stockholm 1 – The first and third periods were scoreless, but a pair of powerplay goals by Madrid in the second period proved to be the critical events of the game. Rick Nash scored his 13th of the season while Stockholm’s Mike Richards was in the penalty box and a short time later, with Eagle Dmitri Orlov in the box, R.J. Umberger notched his 8th. Richards got one goal back before the end of the period after he took a nice goal-mouth feed from Brendan Gallagher. The goal ruined Robin Lehner’s bid for a shutout. Lehner made 39 saves to earn the win.
Munich 4, Helsinki 3 – The Dire Wolf stole a game in Finland on Monday. The Jokerit held a 42-28 shot advantage in the game, but it took two third-period goals by Eliezer Sherbatov to get the game to overtime. In the shootout, Mark Giordano gave Munich the win in the fifth round. Veteran Patrik Elias scored his 20th and 21st of the season in the second period for Munich with Henrik Sedin getting assists on both goals. Robert Kristan continued his fine play in the Munich net, making 39 saves. For Helsinki, defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo blocked 6 shots. Munich is currently in sixth place in the Southern Conference, but they have just a tiny lead over five other teams fighting for the last 3 playoff spots. Munich, Bern, Bratislava, Prague, Frankfurt and Geneva all have legitimate shots at the playoffs right now.
Edinburgh 4, Gothenburg 3 – The Capitals earned a road win in an offensive affair that saw the goalies handle a total of 80 shots. The biggest moment of the game came with a minute left in regulation time. Derek Stepan had scored twice in the second period for Edinburgh, only to be countered by three Gothernberg goals, courtesy of Eric Staal, Blake Wheeler and Jordan Eberle. When Olivier Roland was called for holding with just 2:14 left to play, it appeared the Devils had the win in the bag. But they let Ray Whitney and John Tavares work their way up the ice and Tavares buried a wrist shot past Pekka Rinne to send the game into overtime and eventually a shootout. Tavares couldn’t score in the shootout, but Edinburgh’s Jamie Benn did and Caps goalie Kari Lehtonen stopped all 3 Gothenburg shooters.
