Zurich 6, Lisbon 3 – Second-line forwards Drew Stafford, Jussi Jokinen and Patrick Sharp helped Zurich upend one of the hottest teams in the league Sunday. Stafford and Jokinen each scored a goal and had two assists in the game and all three members are in double figures in goals this season, as are the three members of the line ahead of them. Goalie Devan Dubnyk and defenseman Janne Niskala played large roles in the victory for the Lions, as Dubnyk made 35 saves and Niskala blocked 3 shots and dished out 7 hits. Lisbon’s Steven Stamkos and John Tavares are the top two scorers in the league right now and both added 3 to their season totals with a goal and 2 assists against Zurich. Tavares, who leads the league in scoring and is second in both shots and takeaways, fired 11 shots at Dubnyk. The former Frankfurt franchise has shot up through the standings since Bryan Camara took over as general manager. He made some trades, moved the team out of Germany and today they sit in fifth place overall.
Helsinki 6, Edinburgh 3 – Visiting Helsinki were pulled to a win by Alexander Radulov and Henrik Lundqvist. The Russian forward scored 4 points and the Swedish goaltender stopped 33 shots. The score was 3-3 in the third period when Radulov scored his two goals to allow the Jokerit to pull away from Edinburgh. Paul Stastny had the lone assist on each Radulov goal. Rick Nash and Adam Larsson both had 2 points for Edinburgh. Nearly to the halfway point in the season, Edinburgh finds itself in a three-way struggle to grab 8th place in the Northern Conference.
Belfast 5, Oslo 1 – Alexander Ovechkin and Matt Duchene were forces as the Belfast Giants turned away visiting Oslo. The pair had a total of 14 shots on goal and Ovechkin scored his team’s first two goals. Ondrej Palat added a goal and an assist, along with 6 shots on goal. The game featured a fight involving Belfast’s P.K. Subban and Outlaw forward Tyler Kennedy.
Gothenburg 2, Copenhagen 1 – Gothenburg had twice as many shots as Copenhagen did (38-19) but the game was tied at 1-1 until Devils defenseman Dan Girardi stretched to keep a puck in the Trident zone, passed across the blue line to Marc Edouard Vlasic who took a wrist shot that Patrick Marleau deflected out of the air and past Copenhagen goalie Tim Thomas (36 saves). After a video review to see if the puck was hit with a high stick, Marleau had his second goal of the game, his 7th of the season and his 126th of his career. The goal served as a pick-me-up for the Devils, who were depressed by a Dougie Hamilton goal that came with 9 seconds left in the second period while he and his Trident teammates were killing a penalty.
Moscow 1, London 0 – Thirty-year-old goalie Jaro Halak recorded his third shutout of the season, stopping 35 London shots. Tyler Bozak had 5 shots on Halak for the Dons, and he won 11 of 19 faceoffs and blocked 2 Mosocw shots. Jeff Skinner had 7 shots on goal for London but he was on the ice when Dustin Brown scored the only goal of the game. It was his 15th goal of the year, placing him second on the team in goals behind Blake Wheeler, who has 20 and is tied for second in that department among all EURO skaters.
Milan 5, Bratislava 2 – The Milan Guerriero started well in Bratislava, opening a 3-0 lead early and the Eagles never recovered. Jamie McGinn scored the first two goals of the contest and he now has 5 on the season. Three of Milan’s goals came on their 4 powerplay advantages, and each goal was scored by a different player. McGinn and Par Arlbrandt each scored 3 points and Mathis Olimb had 2 and the three all play on different lines. Bratislava captain Jonathan Toews assisted on both of his team’s goals and he fired 9 of Bratislava’s 43 shots on goal. Alex Stalock made 41 saves for Milan.
