Monday’s games
Prague 4, Stockholm 2 – The former country of Czechoslovakia is home to the early surprises of the first 10 days of the EURO League season. Prague and Bratislava are two of three teams which have not yet lost in regulation time. They have both played 5 games. Belfast is 4-0. On Monday, Keaton Ellerby of Prague scored the biggest goal of the game, breaking a 2-2 tie in the third period after Stockholm’s Cody Ceci scored to tie it. Ryan Miller made 37 saves in the win. He is supporting a 90.8 save percentage, which is better than any he produced in the previous four seasons.
Bratislava 6, Geneva 3 – Bratislava’s number one forward line scored one goal, line 2 scored 2 and line 3 scored 3. They didn’t need line 4 to score 4. Third-line right wing Andreas Jamtin netted a pair of goals and the left wing on that line, Lauri Korpikoski had 3 assists. Along with their center, Milan Gulas, the trio put 14 shots on goal in 9 minutes of ice time. Gulas also won 11 of 12 face-offs. Bratislava’s Tyler Ennis, 26, has scored one goal in each game this season and currently leads the league in goals with 5. Geneva was led by Sergei Kostitsyn, who had a goal and an assist.
Moscow 3, London 1 – Rich Peverley, who was signed to a contract with Moscow earlier in the day, left a drop pass for Kris Versteeg and it resulted in Spartak’s second goal and gave them a 2-0 lead against a Don that played very well. Jimmie Ericsson scored late in the third period to finally get a puck past Alexander Salak in the Spartak goal, but London couldn’t get any closer. Peverley played three seasons or three teams – Bern, Moscow and Frankfurt – but he went unemployed in Season 4. Playing in his first EURO game, Sam Godfrey of Moscow scored into the empty net. He was called up to replace injured Marc-Andre Bourdon.
Bern 6, Munich 1 – The Bears had had enough and somebody had to pay. Munich and goalie Cory Schneider were on the receiving end of the Bears’ anger that came with being the only team in the league without a win. They swamped the Dire Wolf, scoring 3 goals in the first period and three more in the second to take a commanding 6-0 lead into the final period. Mika Zibanejad scored his first two goals of the season when it was 4-0. Bern outshot Munich 30-14. At times the game looked more like Roller Ball than hockey. Munich had 43 hits in the game, including 7 each by Chris Campoli and Braydon Coburn, while Bern had 39, including 6 by Andrei Kostitsyn.
Milan 6, Helsinki 2 – The Guerriero dominated at home, out-shooting Helsinki 35-18. Helsinki got on the scoreboard first, with Steve Downie finishing a play in his debut on the team’s top line. But all that goal did – it seemed – was anger Milan, who reeled off six straight goals on Henrik Lundqvist. Peter Mueller and Trevor Daley each scored a pair of goals for the Guerriero, and teammates Mathis Olimb and Jamie McGinn also scored. Milan was very disciplined, not taking a single penalty. Helsinki’s Jack Johnson had 5 hits and 3 blocked shots.
Minsk 4, Edinburgh 1 – Aaron Ekblad, Kris Russell, Jordan Staal and Jacob Josefsson all scored their first goals of the year in the Hussars’ win in front of more than 17,000 in Belarus. Patrick Kane dished out a pair of assists and the Hussars did a good job of limiting Edinburgh’s big line of Rick Nash, Claude Giroux and Jamie Benn, although Nash did score once to keep Carey Price from getting a shutout. The game also featured a spirited fight between Luke Schenn of Edinburgh and Minsk’s Milan Lucic.
