Stockholm 5, Minsk 3 – Stockholm’s win against Minsk Monday was a good sign for their fans, coach and General Manager Michael Sauer. Two games earlier, in a win over rough and tumble Helsinki, veteran Pavel Datsyuk had to leave

Mattias Sjogren of Stockholm, prepares to write the word “sexy” on Madonna’s back after the singer asked him to during a 2012 concert. (The things you find when you’re looking for info on a guy.)

the game halfway through the third period, limping off in a lot of pain. It turned out the 37-year-old had a partial groin tear and won’t be able to suit up for at least three more weeks. For the Eagles, in 7th place in the Northern Conference and only 4 points behind third place Minsk, it meant their best plus-minus player – by far – is out. Datsyuk, in a full season, is a shoo-in for at least 40 points, but his aging body won’t let him get near 82 games in a season. In his 28 games this season, he has been ultra responsible with the puck, giving it away just 9 times and he has 26 takeaways to his credit. Mattias Sjogren gets more ice time due to the Datsyuk injury. Once property of the NHL’s Washington Capitals and now claimed by Ak Bars in the KHL, Sjogren grew up in Landskrona in southwestern Sweden, about 15 miles from Copenhagen, Denmark, but he is no stranger to Stockholm fans. He is only 22 but he already has two seasons as a regular on his resume after a 50-game season his first year in the league. But he can’t produce like Datsyuk can. On Monday with Datsyuk out against their Kharlamov Division rival, the Eagles didn’t wilt. They attacked Hussar goalie Carey Price with 3 first period goals and played smartly while backup goalie Viktor Fasth protected the Stockholm net by stopping all of Minsk’s 14 first-period shots. In the second, he stopped 11 more – including 6 on Minsk’s powerplay during a Sjogren 5-minute major penalty that also included 5-on-3 play for 2 minutes – and Stockholm entered the third period with a 4-0 lead. Minsk surged and nearly tied the game, but Stockholm held on, outshooting Minsk 43-34 in the game. It was the third straight game in which they have outshot their opponents.

Athens 4, Berlin 0 – It wasn’t ever close as the Greeks put away the conference leading Smurfs. Athens outshot Berlin 48-19, blitzing backup goalie Erik Ersberg. Centers David Backes and Ryan O’Reilly led the Athens charge. Backes had 9 shots on goal and one assist, while O’Reilly fired 5 shots on goal and ended with a goal and an assist.

St. Petersburg 4 , Dublin 2 – The Fighting Irish took a few too many penalties as they were trying desperately to get back into a game St. Petersburg was dominating. The Red Stars ended up outshooting Dublin 46-16, but the game was tied 2-2 in the second period when St. Petersburg capitalized on one of their 6 powerplay opportunities, Dmitri Kalinin getting the go-ahead goal, his 6th of the season. Brent Burns was plus 3 with 5 hits and an assist for St. Pete.

Paris 6, Prague 1 – David Perron led the way as Paris breezed past Prague, outshooting them 51-17. Perron scored a hat trick and leading everyone in shots with 7. Four other Paris players had multi-point games including Mikko Koivu, who tallied a goal and two assists. The Rouges Eiffels are in second place in the Southern Conference, 4 points behind Berlin with a game in hand.

Munich 3, Geneva 1 – Cory Schneider nearly shut out the Geneva Generals in front of more than 19,000 Munich fans, but it was far from a one-man show. The last-place Dire Wolf outshot the Generals 36-29 and trailed 1-0 in the second period before getting goals from Josh Bailey, Patrik Elias and David Bolland. Elias, age 39, leads the team in scoring with 24 points and goals scored with 9. Bolland finished the game with a goal and an assist and 9 shots on goal. Teammate Chris Campoli had 5 hits. The only Geneva goal was scored by Rickard Wallin. Geneva suffered an injury to defenseman Nikita Nikitin. The 29-year-old Russian will missed significant time with a groin injury. It is possible that Coach Darryl Sutter will either move Nicklas Grossman or Eric Brewer into Nikulin’s spot on the second pairing, or leave the veterans together on the third pair and insert Jordan Leopold there.

Madrid 5, Bern 3 – Alex Tanguay had a 4-point night as the Royals burned the Bears. He assisted on the game’s first goal and then scored his 14th of the season on his next shift, but his biggest moment came halfway through the second period when he scored again, this time stopping Bern’s momentum after they had tied the game at 2-2. Patrik Berlund had 3 points for the Royals. Overall, Madrid outshot Bern 40-25