Recap of Monday’s games:
Paris 6, Prague 1 – Clarke MacArthur and Corey Perry scored two goals each as the Paris Rouges Eiffels kept up with the other teams at the top of the standings. Paris outshot Prague 39-23 and led 5-0 before Ryan Nugent-Hopkins finally scored in the third to bust up Tuukka Rask’s shutout bid. Paris’ penalty killing units got a real workout as they had to defend 14 Prague power-play chances, only allowing the one Nugent-Hopkins goal. Prague’s Roman Josi and defense partner Torey Krug had a real hard time of it; both were -4 on the evening. MacArthur and Sergei Zinovjev led everyone in scoring with three points each and they were +3 along with their fourth-line linemate Lee Stempniak. Paris will be at home again on Wednesday to host Edinburgh.
Belfast 3, Copenhagen 1– Jonathan Quick P.K. Subban and the Giants played good defense to frustrate the Tridents and please the home fans. Subban scored the first goal of the game in the first period and Vladimir Tarasenko scored in the second to put Belfast up 2-1. Subban got an assist on the Tarasenko goal and Cody Hodgson assisted on both goals. Copenhagen’s lone tally came on the power play and it tied the game at 1-1. Tomas Fleischmann scored it and he now has 21 goals this season. Quick made 26 saves for Belfast and Brian Elliott was busier in the Copenhagen goal, making 32 saves. Copenhagen was very aggressive and delivered 30 hits, with Dion Phaneuf getting the most (5). Belfast registered 20 hits, with forward Joe Pavelski also being credited with 5. Sidney Crosby is not quite up to full speed and played only six minutes on Monday.
Munich 6, Dublin 4 – Momentum swung often in this game. Munich scored the first three goals, Dublin countered with four straight and then Munich scored three more near the end to win it. Steve Downey’s second of the game might have been the biggest of the 10 goals. It stopped Dublin’s momentum and tied the game at 4-4. About A minute and a half later Henrik Sedin scored the go-ahead goal, his 12th of the season. Downey also has 12 goals for Munich. Tailgate Zhailauov of the Dire Wolf led everyone in scoring with a goal and 3 assists. Phil Kessel was Dublin’s most dangerous player, scoring two goals on five shots. Munich coach Craig Berube has been unconventional in managing his goalies. Robert Tristan, the ‘backup” to Cory Schneider has started each of the last 5 games. In that span, he has faced 33.6 shots per game, allowed 3.60 goals per game, and his team is 3-2. The last time Schneider played was in a 3-0 loss to Berlin when he made 33 saves and allowed 2 goals.
Frankfurt 3, Berlin 0 – Kari Ramo was unbeatable Monday for the Inferno, turning aside all 32 Smurf shots to halt Berlin’s modest little win streak. The Steven Stamos-Claude Giroux-Max Pacioretty line broke a scoreless tie int he third period when Stamkos rifled in his 20th goal of the season and Giroux backhanded home his 26th about 6 and a half minutes later. Joe Thornton put the game away with 2 minutes left, getting his 8th goal of the season. Patric Hornqvist and David Krejci were probably the most frustrated Smurfs after the game because they had 7 and 6 shots on Ramo, respectively. It was the 22-year-old Ramo’s first shut out of the season and fourth of his career. Berlin will have an injury to deal with as defenseman Matt Carle is out with a wrist injury.
Helsinki 5, Oslo 0 – Henrik Lundqvist notched shutout number 2 this season and number 16 in his career and Travis Zajac scored twice to take the team lead in goals with 17. Zajac also leads the Jokerit in shots with 133. The 29-year-old center in Finland on a long-term contract has already bettered his top goal count for a season (14 last year) and is 4 points from equaling his personal best point total (39). Defenseman Jack Johnson was named the game’s second star as he had a goal, an assist, he was +2 and three hits and one blocked shot in 24 minutes of ice time. Helsinki is in 12th place overall and Oslo is in 30th.
Milan 6, Stockholm 5 – Andy McDonald hurt the Stockholm Eagles playoff drive by a point in the standings when he scored with three minutes and 43 seconds remaining to tie the game and send it into overtime and eventually a shootout. it was his second goal of the game and 7th of the year. Stockholm got themselves into penalty trouble, taking 10 minors which yielded 3 power play goals. The Eagles’ own power play units were good, scoring 2 important goals in 4 opportunities. The top point scorers in the game were Mike Richards and Bobby Ryan, both of Stockholm, who each had 3 points. Milan’s Derek Roy, Niklas Danielson and McDonald all had 2 points in the contest.
