Lisbon 6, Paris 1 – Sacre bleu! Les Rouges Eiffels have lost two home games in a row. That basically never happens. Lisbon HC rolled over Paris after getting an early tally from Steven Stamkos and then two more goals before the end of period one. Paris was their own worst enemy in this one, committing 7 minor penalties including 3 separate offenses in a span of just six seconds. Those occurred right after Kyle Turris scored the team’s lone goal and it came while Paris was killing another penalty. But on the faceoff right after his goal, Turris got caught hooking a Lisbon player and Paris started a long two-man-disadvantage that led to John Tavares’ 6th goal of the season.
Minsk 5, Athens 2 – Milan Lucic has scored a point in all 9 games this season and he was one of five Hussars to score goals as Minsk dominated the Greeks, outshooting them 50-24. Patrick Kane led all skaters in points with 1 goal and 2 assists. Athens goalie Jaroslav Halak was a busy boy, making 45 saves in the loss. He got a lot of help from defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti, who scored a goal, dished out 4 hits and blocked 5 shots. After the game, ownership of the Greeks franchise changed hands from Paul Fordsley to Justin Haines.
Bratislava 6, Prague 3 – The Eagles fired 25 shots on the Prague net in the second period and ended up outshooting the home team 51-14. Bratislava got goals from three defensemen and two from winger Wei-Yang Zhang who has the hot hand for his team with 5 tallies in the last two games. Bratislava signed two veteran wingers this week in Dany Heatley, 36, and then Scott Hartnell, 35, and they were given good ice time Friday. They are in the lineup Saturday for a game against Hartnell’s old club. He played six full seasons with the Athens Greeks before being released at the end of last season.
Copenhagen 3, Madrid 2 – Mathieu Perreault scored the game-winning goal after his Copenhagen linemate Chris Higgins threw the puck in front of the Madrid goal with just under two minutes remaining in the game. Perreault and defenseman Ian White supported Copenhagen goalie Andres De La Garma by blocking 3 Royal shots each. Erik Karlsson had a goal and an assist for Madrid.
Stockholm 5, Moscow 1 – The powerplay unit accounted for 3 Stockholm goals, which were all scored by Mats Zuccarello. David Krejci assisted on all three as well as an even strength goal by Bryan Little and Krejci – acquired in a trade with Berlin – now leads the league in assists. Eagles goalie Braden Holtby had a shutout going until there was 6:12 left in the game when Moscow’s Rich Peverley beat him. Dalton Prout had 3 hits and 4 blocked shots for the Eagles. The game was marred with an ugly hit by Moscow’s Chris Stewart who rammed defenseman John Klingberg against the boards and Klingberg had to leave with an injured shoulder. Stewart was given a match penalty and may face disciplinary action from the league.
Berlin 6, Zurich 2 – Berlin is now 5-0 on the road and the only team in the league that is undefeated as the away team. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored 4 points in the game and Alexander Edler had 3, including two powerplay goals. Logan Couture scored the game’s first goal and he leads the EURO League in goals with 10. Couture and Nugent-Hopkins share the team lead in points with 16 and both have been dangerous while killing Smurf penalties. Couture leads the league in shorthanded goals with three and RNH has two. The only other player in the league with more than one shorthanded goal is Kyle Turris of Paris. Both of Zurich’s goals came on powerplays in the last 6:36 of the game, but the score was 6-0 before they got onto the scoreboard.
