Dublin linemates Jakob Silfverberg (left), Alexander Ovechkin (center) and Cody Hodgson.

Dublin 6, Zurich 1 – Fans of the Dublin Fighting Irish have grown accustomed to relying on their top line to score goals and win games for the team. In the beginning, Ryan Kesler, Phil Kessel and Bobby Ryan teamed up to form one of the EURO’s most feared lines. Then Ryan left in a trade with Stockholm and Evander Kane stepped up to the top line and the team had another feared line. This season, Kane is in Belfast and the Fighting Irish brain trust of GM Gayle Rock and coach Paul MacLean are spreading the forward talent out more than anyone has before in Dublin. Kesler and Kessel are still together, but with James Van Riemsdyk (acquired in the Ryan trade) to form an All-American line. The other player who came to Dublin in the Ryan trade – Jakob Silfverburg – is playing with two former Giants who came to town when Kane went to the other Irish city. Cody Hodgson and Alexander Ovechkin, who coincidentally was the first player ever drafted by the franchise were the returns in the trade of Kane and youngster Nardo Naagtzam. Ovechkin was traded from Dublin right after being drafted in Season 1 and he has had trouble adjusting to his new home, but on Monday he and his linemates looked really comfortable together. Ovechkin collected two assists as he, Silfverberg and Hodgson combined for 18 shots on goal against Zurich’s John Gibson. Meanwhile,  Van Riemsdyk looked good with Kesler. Van Riemsdyk set up the franchise’s  all-time leading scorer for two goals and JVR now leads the team in scoring this season. And Dublin’s defense was great. The Irish limited the Lions to 14 shots on goal and defensemen James Wisniewski and Matt Carle were plus 4 as a pair. Dublin has won 4 of their last 6 games and the  losses were both one-goal defeats against Bratislava (in overtime) and  league-leading Minsk.

Athens 4, Paris 3 (OT-SO) – Anze Kopitar scored twice in regulation and then watched three of his teammates score in the shootout to end a game that the home team deserved to win. The Greeks out-shot the Rouge Eiffels 42-26. Joffrey Lupul of Paris played his heart out in the loss, scoring three points and blocking 4 Athens shots. He now has 30 goals this season, a career best for him. Evgeny Malkin also scored for Paris and he now has 38 goals to put him 6 behind Nicklas Backstrom of Minsk for the league lead.

Berlin 6, Geneva 1 – For some reason, the Smurfs were angry again Monday and the Generals were made to pay.Berlin had four times as many shots on goal as they allowed (44-11). Nathan Horton scored two goals, while defensemen Dion Phaneuf and Alexander Edler each had two first-period assists to go with their plus 4 ratings. The Smurfs have the Schloder Division crown wrapped up already. They are 19 points ahead of the division’s next-best team, Lisbon.

London 6, Moscow 3 – For a game that featured two all-star caliber goalies, the goaltending sure wasn’t that good. London scored 6 times on 19 shots against Alexander Salak, while Moscow tallied 3 times in 22 shots against Martin Jones. Salak represented the Northern Conference in this season’s all-star game, while Jones started for the North last year. Four Dons had multi-point games. Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist and he blocked 4 Moscow shots. Taylor Hall, Jiri Hudler and Michael Grabner also scored two points. Dustin Brown and Ryan O’Reilly were Spartak’s best players. Each had 4 shots on goal and one goal.

Copenhagen 2, Oslo 1 – Copenhagen scored the only goal of the first period and the only one in the second, holding on to limit the home team to one goal in the final period. Both Trident goals came from the blueline and forward Mathieu Perreault earned assists both times. Slava Voynov and Kevin Bieksa notched their 10th and 3rd goals of the season, respectively. Zach Parise pulled Oslo to within one in the third period, but the Outlaws shot themselves in the foot by taking three penalties in the game’s last 4:11. The game was marred by an ugly incident when Andrew Shaw of the Outlaws speared Trident goalie Roberto Luongo and was thrown out of the game. “Lou” remained in the game to earn the win in net, but the incident sparked an intense shouting match that had coaches Claude Julien of Oslo and Dave Cameron of Copenhagen standing on their respective benches yelling at each other. Several items were also thrown onto the ice from the stands after Shaw was ejected. Sepp Blatter, the league’s director of player safety and discipline, said no supplementary discipline will be considered. Blatter was reached while shopping in a Vienna jewelry store Monday evening. Both teams are dealing with their fair share of injuries at the moment. Copenhagen is limping along without defenseman Dougie Hamilton and right wings Devin Setoguchi and Marko Dano, while Oslo is without the services of three defensemen: Nikita Nikitin, Morgan Rielly and Calvin De Haan.

Madrid 3, Lisbon 2 – For the second time in a week, Madrid defeated Lisbon. In the season series involving the Iberian Peninsula foes, Madrid has two wins to Lisbon’s one. They play again two weeks from today. On Monday, Lisbon tied the game 2-2 while one of their own players was in the penalty box. Star forwards Steven Stamkos and John Tavares were penalty killing when Tavares scored his 34th of the season to tie the game. But before that penalty expired, Madrid regained the lead thanks to a smart pass by Derek Stepan and a one-timer by Gabriel Landeskog for his 28th of the season. Sean Couturier of Madrid helped turn the game around while his team was trailing 1-0 in the second period. He had a goal and an assist during a stretch of 11 minutes.