Moscow 4, Belfast 2 – Usually, when James Neal scores a goal, good things happen for the defending champion Belfast Giants. On Monday, however, Neal put his team up by a goal about midway through the game and that tally seemed to poke the Russian bear. Thirty seconds after Neal’s goal, Spartak worked their way into Jonathan Quick’s end, passed the puck around like the Harlem Globetrotters and Andrei Markov capped off the display with a blast to make the score 2-2. Then Neal retaliated on a clean Anton Stralman check by punching the Moscow defenseman in the head. Off to the penalty box he went, serenaded by an entire Moscow bench full of loud admonitions. Belfast’s penalty killers were successful until then, killing off 8 minutes of shorthanded time, but Moscow put together a scoring play, broke a 2-2 tie, and proceeded to tighten the clamps on the champs in their own rink. David Backes scored the last goal of the game and the Spartak captain now has points in 10 straight games. Only Lisbon center John Tavares has a longer active points streak (11 games). Patrick Maroon played a role in the game as an enforcer. He went after Belfast tough guy Micki Dupont in an attempt to stiffen Moscow’s collective backbone. The refs threw the book at Maroon, ejecting him from the game, but Moscow seemed to play a little taller after the heavyweight fight. Overall, Moscow outshot Belfast 35-24. Backup goalie Viktor Fasth picked up the win for Moscow, which has joined Paris and Minsk in a tight race for the President’s Trophy. Belfast and Berlin, last year’s Cup finalists, are tied for fourth place overall.

Berlin 3, Minsk 0 – There was some controversy in Berlin Monday when the first goal of the game was scored, but even without that goal, the Smurfs would have dominated. After a scoreless first period that saw Minsk build a 7-6 edge in shots on goal, Berlin went into Super Smurf Power mode, eventually outshooting Minsk 17-2 in the period. With the score still tied 0-0, Nicklas Hjalmarsson of Berlin took a penalty with 16:26 to play in the second, but Hussar forward Milan Lucic was called for high sticking to negate the powerplay.  David Krejci broke the scoreless tie by poking the puck through Carey Price in goal, but Minsk coach Lindy Ruff and his players insisted Price had the puck covered under his pad for long enough to draw a whistle and they pointed out that Krejci pushed the goalie’s leg into the goal. Nevertheless, the goal was allowed to stand. Just before Lucic’s penalty expired, Berlin added another goal and later in the period they scored again. Minsk could not recover as Berlin continued the assault, pouring 20 more shots on Price in the third period. Josh Gorges and Alex Edler each logged 30 minutes or more for the Smurfs, with Edler blocking 5 Minsk shots. It was a rough game that cost the Smurfs left winger Nikolai Kulemin for the next two weeks. Kulemin injured an arm and it looks like Coach Adam Oates will have to ask a minor league center to play wing because General Manager Guybrush Threepwood left him with no spare wingers on the roster. The only minor leaguer who has seen action this year for Berlin is German Leon Draisaitl, who appeared in 2 games when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins sat with an “upper body injury.” Tonight will feature another rematch of last year’s Cup finalists when Belfast visits Germany. The teams played once already this season, with the Giants coming out on top 3-1.

St. Petersburg 6, Dublin 1 – Big center Brian Boyle played perhaps his best game ever, scoring two goals in the second period, getting off 7 shots, adding an assist, finishing plus 4 in 13 minutes of ice time, and being named the first star.  Defenseman Brenden Dillon assisted on both Boyle tallies. Antti Niemi was solid in goal for the Red Stars, stopping 22 of 23 Fighting Irish shots. Dublin’s centers were able to win the majority of the game’s faceoffs, but it didn’t seem to help much as St. Petersburg controlled play and outshot the Fighting Irish 36-23. The two teams have been going in opposite directions lately. Dublin has lost 4 straight games and 8 of their last 9. St. Petersburg, meanwhile, has won 6 of their last 7 games, including their last three when they have put up 4, 5, and 6 goals.

Copenhagen 5, London 4 – Five different players scored goals for the Tridents as they added to London’s recent woes. It was the fifth straight one-goal defeat suffered by the Dons. The game was evenly played, with both teams getting 29 shots on goal. Copenhagen enjoyed 2 powerplays to London’s one and the Tridents had three more hits in the game, 27-24. London’s Dmitri Orlov scored the first and last goals of the game and he was one of 7 players on the two teams who had multi-point games.

Prague 4, Bern 3 (OT-SO) – The Bears fought hard to earn a point in the game, but the visitors from the Czech Republic ultimately prevailed in a shootout. The first period ended with neither team scoring on goalies Mike Smith of Bern or Niko Hovinen of Prague. But in the second, Prague turned it on, scoring three times, twice on the powerplay and outshooting Bern 15-7. Then Prague let off the gas and allowed Bern to come back. The third period was a virtual reversal of the second. Bern held a 13-5 shots advantage and scored three goals, the last of which coming with 21 seconds left when Coach Mike Babcock had his fourth line out there in a surprising tactic that resulted in Lance Bouma batting home a rebound of a Leo Komarov shot.

Edinburgh 5, Oslo 1 – The home team dominated the last two periods to come away with a convincing win. Rickard Wallin’s goal in the first period was a big one for the Capitals because at the time, the two teams were fighting a very even fight. Oslo star Tyler Seguin scored to tie the game in the second period, but late in that period, Edinburgh took off, scoring two goals and adding two more in the third. Edinburgh’s best line was the one that had Brandon Dubinsky centering Mike Hoffman and Wallin. The latter scored two goals in the contest and the line combined for 16 shots on goal.