Frankfurt 2, Berlin 2 – Series tied 3-3

The Berlin Smurfs might be too nervous to get angry after the Frankfurt Inferno burned them on Sunday to force a Game 7 in their series. The home team has won each game of the series so far and Berlin will have home ice advantage on Tuesday in the deciding game. The Smurfs seem to force a faster-paced game at home. The three games played in Berlin have seen goal totals of 7, 9 and 11, while the games in Frankfurt have produced 3, 5 and 5 goals. On Sunday, the league’s leading scorer provided the killer goal with just 7 seconds left in the second period. Steven Stamkos took a Claude Giroux pass and fired a wrist shot past Jimmy Howard for his second goal of the series. It was the Inferno’s second powerplay of the game and it broke a 1-1 tie. Earlier in the period, Chris Higgins scored to break the goose eggs, but waiver pickup Martin Erat tied it for Berlin two minutes later. Shot totals were pretty even (30-26 Frankfurt) with Stamkos and Berlin’s Loui Eriksson leading everyone with 6 shots. Stamkos also led everyone in blocked shots with 4. Kari Ramo played an excellent game and stopped 25 of 26 Berlin shots. The only player who probably won’t be healthy enough to play in Game 7 is Berlin defenseman Gerhard Unterluggauer.

Tonight:

The Edinburgh Capitals are on a two-game roll, playing at home, and John Tavares seems to have snapped out of his earlier-in-the-series doldrums. Through the first four games, Tavares had 2 assists, 7 shots and was a minus 2. In the last two games, he has managed 2 goals, 2 assists, 11 shots and is a plus 3. Those factors seem to conspire against Copenhagen, who have a gimpy Stephen Weiss centering the second line and an inexperienced Erik Gustafsson replacing Nick Holden on defense. All eyes will be on Trident goalie Brian Elliott, who has improved his save percentage 1 and a half points since the playoffs began.