Madrid 3, Bern 1 – Andrej Meszaros has been a good addition to the Madrid Royals defense corps. He came over from Copenhagen in a trade that sent rookie MarkoDano and a future second-round pick to Denmark. The 30-year-old
Andrej Meszaros, Madrid Royals defenseman
primarily known as a defensive defenseman is the team’s leading scorer among defensemen. And that’s on a team that includes Erik Karlsson. In a 1-1 game in Bern on Tuesday, Meszaros scored twice in a 23-second span of the third period to give his team the win. The Slovakian now has 6 goals and 18 points this season. His best offensive season came two years ago with the Tridents when he tallied 9 goals and 46 points. He is currently tops on the Royals in hits and second on the Royals in plus-minus with plus 9. Meszaros is pretty familiar with “plus” territory. In his four seasons in Copenhagen, he was +25, +39, +28 and +24. In the game Tuesday, Karlsson assisted on one Meszaros goal and on the first tally of the game by forward Brooks Laich. Karlsson and Meszaros each also had 3 hits and 2 blocked shots in the game. Pascal Dupuis was the best Bear in the game, leading the team in shots with 5 and scoring their lone goal, his 7th of the season on a second-period powerplay.
Belfast 4, Oslo 3 – Even minus injured Sidney Crosby, the Giants at home seemed like heavy favorites against Oslo, but they had a struggle on their hands to get the two points Tuesday. Belfast outshot Oslo 40-21 and got goals from four different sources, but Oslo made it close when Morgan Rielly scored near the end of the second period and Mikhail Grabovski tallied early in the third period. Second-liners Ondrej Palat, Nazem Kadri and Mikko Lehtonen had multi-point games for Belfast, while Matt D’Agostini and Grabovski did the same for the Outlaws. With the win, the Giants slid ahead of Berlin and into first place overall.
Gothenburg 2, Copenhagen 1 – The hockey gods had something against the Dave Cameron-coached Copenhagen Tridents on Tuesday. Or maybe it was just that Gothenburg goalie Pekka Rinne was at the top of his game. Copenhagen outshot Gothenburg 41-17 but lost 2-1. All three goals were powerplay goals and there was only one scored each period. John Carlson scored his 7th of the season for the Devils in the first, but Joe Pavelski tied the game for the Tridents with his 10th. In the third period, with a little under 10 minutes to play, Adam Henrique tossed a little pass to Carl Hagelin off to the side of the net and he beat Tim Thomas with what ended up to be the game winner. Copenhagen’s Slava Voynov blocked 5 Gothenburg shots. The Devils are now in sixth place in the crowded middle of the Northern Conference standings.
Paris 4, Stockholm 3 (shootout) – After a scoreless first period, Stockholm zoomed to a 3-0 lead in the second period, but Paris tied the game with three goals in the third. Mikko Koivu tied the game with his 5th of the season with 1:22 to play. In the shootout, Paris was deadly with Evgeny “Damn” Malkin, David Perron and Corey Perry all scoring. Jeff Carter of Stockholm was the best player in the game, scoring his 13th and 14th goals of the season and assisting on a Brendan Gallagher goal. Eagle goalie Braden Holtby made 36 saves in the loss.
Minsk 5, Milan 4 (shootout) – The Hussars made the long journey from Minsk to Milan for the latest game in the Rochelle, Rochelle Series (It’s a Seinfeld reference) and emerged with 2 points. But just barely. Shots were practically even in the game after Milan poured it on in the third period, outshooting Minsk 15-4. The tying goal came off the stick of Milan’s Tyler Johnson (his 11th) while Hussar Nicklas Backstrom was serving a minor penalty. Minsk was led by Thomas Powell and Gustav Nyquist, who each had a goal and two assists, and Jordan Staal, who had 5 shots and two assists. Jaden Schwartz and Jamie McGinn had 2 points each for Milan. In the shootout, six players shot and five of them scored. Only Johnson, who shot first, wasn’t able to score. Minsk’s Patrick Kane scored the winner as the sixth shooter.
Zurich 5, Athens 1 – The Lions dominated the game, getting three goals from the combination of Drew Stafford to Jussi Jokinen. The Finn now has 13 goals this season. Ian White of Athens powered in the first goal of the game, his 9th of the season, but Jokinen and crew took over from there, outshooting Athens 37-19 in the game. Jokinen led all players in goals (3), shots (7) and hits (6).
