Athens 5, Minsk 4 – Both teams saw leads disappear in Minsk Wednesday. Greeks Scott Hartnell and Ian White scored the only goals of the first period, but Minsk erased the two-goal lead and went up 4-3 with more than 16 minutes of the third period to play. But in the last 7 minutes of regulation, Jason Pominville tied it and Michael Ryder won it for Athens against Carey Price, who made 20 saves. Cam Ward of Athens was much, much busier and as it turned out … better. Ward made 38 saves. Minsk’s Jordan Staal was the best offensive player in the game, scoring 3 points, while his teammates Gustav Nyquist and Max Chudinov scored 2. Athens had 13 players score at least a point, but only Bobby Butler (2 assists) had more than 1. Staffan Kronwall blocked 6 shots for Athens. David Backes, Greek captain earned a match penalty in the second period for an elbow that somehow injured Zac Rinaldo’s knee.

Dublin 4, Munich 2 – The Fighting Irish relied on their top 6 players when they invaded Bavaria Wednesday and the top players came through. Phil Kessel, Ryan Kesler and Evander Kane – Dublin’s top line – was on the ice for 3 of 4 Irish goals, while top defensemen James Wisniewski and Keith Yandle also contributed with points. Brian Elliott, in goal for Dublin, made 28 saves to earn the win. Acquired in a trade with Copenhagen during the off season, Elliott has started 8 games for Dublin and currently has the league’s fourth-best save percentage (91.5). Munich got a goal from rookie Fyodor Malykhin, his first, to make it 1-1, and they got one from defenseman Chris Campoli, but Dublin already had 4 on the board by then. Dire Wolf forward Travis Zajac assisted on both Munich goals and Radko Gudas blocked 5 Irish shots.

Prague 3, Milan 2 – Ryan Miller made 33 saves and was voted the game’s first star as the Wolf Pack won on the road to bring their Southern Conference-leading record to 7-1-1. Prague scored two goals in the first period and derailed Milan’s comeback when Mark Scheifele scored his first of the season to make it 3-1 with 8:18 to play in the third period. The game was a pretty rough one with a lot of clean hits, and each team lost a player to injury. Andrew MacDonald and Danny DeKeyser each had 7 hits for the Guerriero while Keaton Ellerby had 5 for Prague. Prague’s early season success can be credited in large part to the second forward line of Jason Spezza, Nail Yakupov and Martin Ruzicka, The three are among 6 Prague forwards with betwene 8 and 10 points in 7 games, and as a unit the Spezza line is plus 8.

Helsinki 4, Bern 2 – The Jokerit outshot Bern 39-17 and got the better of the Bears in the hitting department by a 40-24 count. Helsinki’s Antoine Vermette led the way for his team with a game-high 6 shots and a game-high 6 hits. He also had an assist and won 14 of 18 faceoffs. Helsinki’s top line of Thomas Vanek, Alexander Radulov and Paul Stastny scored twice. The Bears received another game effort by goalie Mike Smith, who made 35 saves, but they are having a really tough time coming out of their off-season hibernation and they sit in last place at the moment with just one win in 9 games.

Belfast 5, Zurich 4 – Jonathan Quick was the difference in the game as he stopped 40 Zurich shots and made acrobatic saves to stone Patrice Bergeron and then Patrick Sharp from tying the game in the final 20 seconds. Bergeron finished with 11 shots on goal and he was able to score twice on Quick. He also won 21 of 27 faceoffs. Ilya Kovalchuk had 3 assists for the Lions, but Belfast’s Sidney Crosby matched that assist total and Alexander Ovechkin matched Bergeron’s goal total. The third period started with the score 3-3 and Belfast went ahead 5-3 on goals by defensemen P.K. Subban and Victor Hedman. Strangely, Zurich lost the period 2-1 despite outshooting the Giants 16-3.

Moscow 6, Stockholm 2 – Special team play might have been the difference in Moscow’s win on home ice. Both teams had 5 powerplay opportunities, but Moscow blanked Stockholm each time while making good on 3 of their own chances. Four Moscow players tallied three points in the game, and another – Andrew Ladd – scored two goals. Max Pacioretty, Ryan Suter, Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar all had 3 points. Derick Brassard and Bobby Ryan scored Stockholm’s goals and defenseman Karl Alzner blocked 6 shots. Moscow is currently tied with two other teams in fifth place in the league standings and Pacioretty is tied with three players for the league scoring title with 14 points through 9 games.