Heading into Sunday’s Game 6 in Germany, three series are finished in each conference. Monday will feature a Game 7 in the Northern Conference when Edinburgh hosts Copenhagen.
From Friday:
Zurich 5, Bern 2 – Zurich wins series 4-1
Bern had a 2-0 lead, but the Lions roared back with five straight goals by five different players. Jussi Jokinen and Patrick Sharp were great playmakers in the game, each getting 3 assists. Jokinen also recorded 3 hits and 3 blocked shots, being overshadowed in the hitting category by teammate Janne Niskala, who had 8. Jokinen was definitely Zurich’s best player in the series. He finished as the leading scorer in the series with 2 goals and 5 assists in 5 games, led all Lions in blocked shots with 8, and had 10 takeaways versus only 2 giveaways. For Bern, Tobias Enstrom and Radim Vrbata each had 5 points in the series.
Athens 6, Bratislava 3 – Athens wins series 4-1
The Greeks were too active for the Eagles, scoring 6 goals in each of the last two games of the series. In Game 5, a dozen Athens players scored at least a point, with Jason Pominville, Staffan Kronwall, Dimitrios Kalyvas and Vadim Shipachyov all getting 2. They outshot the visitors 35-21. Bratislava’s top four scorers all had 5 points, including Luke Adam who didn’t play the first two games of the series. Athens was led in the series by Ryan O’Reilly. The young center led everyone in scoring with 6 points in the five games, was plus 2 with 15 hits and 10 takeaways against 3 giveaways. Dustin Byfuglien finished with a plus 5 rating in the series.
Paris 4, Madrid 0 – Paris wins series 4-1
Tuukka Rask earned a 26-save shutout and 10 different Paris players scored 1 point against the Royals. In the series, Paris was led by Alexander Semin (6 goals and 8 points) and Mikko Koivu (7 points and 10 takeaways). Brian Campbell gave a good effort defensively for the Royals in the series and forwards Gabriel Landeskog (6 points) and Derek Stepan (8) were tough to handle.
Saturday:
Minsk 4, Gothenburg 3 – Minsk wins series 4-2
With a minute to go in a tie game, Minsk’s Patrik Berglund found a seam in Gothenburg’s defense and Gustav Nyqvist found him with a perfect pass. Berglund slammed a shot past Pekka Rinne and the Devils couldn’t recover. Nyqvist and Renat Mamashev both finished with 2 points for the Hussars, with Mamashev adding 3 blocked shots, 2 hits and a plus 2 rating to be named the game’s first star. Gothenburg did a good job of thwarting Minsk’s dangerous line of Nicklas Backstrom, Milan Lucic and Jakub Voracek, but other forwards came through for the Hussars. Second-liners Berglund, Nyqvist and Thomas Powell each had 7 points in the 6 games. Despite the 4-2 win in games, Minsk didn’t have a lot of plus players in the series. Defense partners Nick Leddy and Maxim Chudinov led the team at plus 3. The top players for Gothenburg were Adam Henrique (4 goals and 8 points) and Blake Wheeler (4 goals and 7 points), along with Carl Hagelin (6 points and a team-high plus 4).
Edinburgh 3, Copenhagen 2 – Series tied 3-3
The best battle in the Northern Conference playoffs is the Edinburgh-Copenhagen tussle, where the No. 3 seed Capitals won the last two games to force a Game 7. Fourth-line center Casey Cizikas was the unlikely (2 goals in 26 regular season games) hero on Saturday, scoring the only goal in a third period that started with the score tied 2-2. Goalie Kari Lehtonen has been stellar in the last two games and he might have been the difference on Saturday in a game in which the Tridents outshot his team 37-31. A lot of action occurred in the first period while Edinburgh’s Brandon Dubinsky was sitting in the penalty box serving a major penalty. His teammate John Tavares opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal, but the Copenhagen power play struck twice shortly thereafter, with Tomas Fleischmann and Martin Thornberg finishing plays. Stephen Weiss of Copenhagen re-entered the lineup despite being hurt still with an undisclosed leg injury. He played 18 minutes and got off 2 shots but took 2 penalties. Team doctors put him currently at about 73 percent health, but he wants to play and coach Paul Maurice feels the same way. Copenhagen is without the services of third-pairing defenseman Nick Holden, while Edinburgh is perfectly healthy.
