Dublin 3, London 0 – Against a team ahead of them in the standings, the Dublin Fighting Irish looked determined to stay in a playoff position Monday. They shut out the London Dons 3-0, with Jonathan Bernier making 21 saves. Jakob Silfverberg, James Van Riemsdyk and Tomas Plekanec all had a goal and an assist for the Irish. Van Riemsdyk’s goal was his 25th goal of the season. It is by far Van Riemsdyk’s best goal-production season in the EURO League. He played for Moscow and Stockholm before coming to Ireland, and his previous best was 18 goals last season with the Fighting Irish. Coming into the game, Dublin was in 8th place in the Northern Conference, but just barely. They were tied with Gothenburg but had one more win, which is the first tie-breaking criterium. With just 3 games left of their schedule, the Irish’s future is still very much in doubt. Mathematics says Dublin could climb all the way to 6th place in the conference, or they could fall to 9th or even 10th and out of the playoffs.

Felix Bruckmann

Geneva 5, Munich 1 – Geneva, which is also locked in a tight playoff struggle, was outshot in Munich Monday but managed to leave on top of a 5-1 score. Dire Wolf rookie goalie Felix Bruckmann has been given a chance to gain some experience in the big league but in his first 3 games, his confidence has probably taken a beating. The 21-year-old German has allowed 15 goals and stopped pucks at a rate of only 83 percent. Munich actually led 1-0 halfway through the game on a Travis Zajac goal, but Geneva stormed back with Nick Foligno’s 20th goal of the season before the end of the period and then four third-period goals. Erik Cole scored twice and added an assist in the third period. Geneva goalie Ondrej Pavelec finished the game with 33 saves. At the moment, Geneva is in 8th place in the Southern Conference with 78 points. Zurich also has 78, but the Lions have two more games remaining on the schedule. Prague is right behind Zurich, with 77 points and one game in hand.

Berlin 6, Zurich 1 – Logan Couture scored twice and Ryan Callahan had a goal and 2 assists as Berlin won easily in Switzerland. Smurf backup goalie Erik Ersberg was 25 seconds away from his first career shutout when Ryan Strome scored to ruin the party. Zurich did its best Helsinki imitation in the game, racking up 43 hits, with former Jokerit Jacob Trouba leading the way with 9. In the race for the President’s Trophy, Berlin trails Belfast by one point and both teams have 4 games remaining to play, with Zurich lucky enough to play both of them in the next week and a half.