Paris, Minsk advance over higher seeds

Minsk and Paris were the only lower-seeded teams to advance into the second round of the EURO playoffs. Here’s a brief look at each first-round series.

Belfast 4, Stockholm 2

Stockholm didn’t get its act together until they were down 3-0 in the series. Giants sent the Eagles packing with 3 powerplay goals in Game 6. Biggest goal of the series? Yasin Ehliz’ one-timer with 5:20 left that was the game-winner for Belfast in Game 2.

Stars of the Series:

Jack Eichel, Stockholm, 4 assists and +3.

Claude Giroux, Belfast, 4 goals, 5 blocked shots

Ondrej Palat, Belfast, 3 goals and 5 assists.

St. Petersburg 4, Moscow 2

After 2 easy wins by the Krasnyye Zvezdy, the Battle for Russia became yet another epic struggle for survival in Mother Russia. Moscow gave their compatriots a scare by winning 1-0 in Petrograd, but St. Petersburg won the next game to end the Dynamos’ season. Biggest goal of the season? Vladimir Tarasenko on the PP with 1:30 left that capped a 3-goal Red Star comeback in Moscow and gave them a 3-0 series lead.

Stars of the Series

Sam Gagner, St. Petersburg, 7 points, +3 and a +5 turnover ratio

Jiri Tlusty, Moscow, 3 goals, 1 asists and +2 with a +4 turnover ratio

Simeon Varlamov, St. Petersburg, 2.00 GAA and .914 save percentage in 6 games

Minsk 4, Helsinki 0

If you go by seeding, Helsinki should have won this one, but it wasn’t even that close. Two 5-4 steals in Finland by Minsk seemed to take the wind right out of the Jokerits’ sails. Biggest goal of the series? Bo Horvat of Minsk in Game 1. He scored on an Alex Burmistrov feed to interrupt Helsinki’s comeback in the third period. It was the eventual game-winner.

Stars of the Series

Bo Horvat, Minsk, 6 points in 4 games and the best defensive play on a line that was +8

Ryan Kesler, Helsinki, 4 goals and 3 assists in 4 games.

Ryan McDonagh, Minsk, team leader or close to that om blocks, hits and plus/minus to go with 3 assists on 4 games.

London 4, Copenhagen 0

Martin Jones’ 39-save shutout in Game 3 put the Ice Lords up 3-0 in the series and was the backbreaker. Copenhagen’s dynamic duo of Auston Matthews and Johnny Gaudreau were non-factors. Biggest Goal of the Series?

Stars of the Series

Phil Kessel, London, 3 goals and 3 assists in 4 games; 14 shots on goal and 6 hits.

Slava Voynov, Copenhagen, 2 goals and an assist, +5 turnover ratio and 8 blcoked shots in 4 losses.

Martin Jones, London, 2.00 GAA and .925 save percentage.

Athens 4, Bratislava 0

The Gods took the team that came a win away fromt he Season 8 Cup and just devoured them. Athens scored 18 goals in the series and allowed just 4. Biggest goal of the Series? Brandon Sutter’s second of the game made it 3-0 Athens in a 3-2 Athens win in the last game.

Stars of the Series

Jimmy Howard, Athens, 1.00 goals against average and .969 save percentage.

Logan Couture, Athens, 6 goals in 6 games

Brandon Sutter, Athens, 6 points in 6 games, led team in shots with 12, was +5

Berlin 4, Milan 1

The Smurfs started the series with 2 shaky games at home but then put together 3 strong performances to end Milan’ season. Biggest goal of the Series? 50 seconds after Timo Meier tied Game 1, Jan Kovar snapped in the eventual game-winner against Andrew Hammond.

Stars of the Series

Staffan Kronwall, Berlin, +8 in the series; led the team in takeaways and +6 turnover ratio to go with 4 assists.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Berlin, 5 goals and 8 points in 5 games

Jaden Schwartz, Milan, 5 points in 5 games; was +4 despite team losses

Geneva 4, Lisbon 0

The Generals were a scoring machine aaginst Lisbon with 19 goals in 4 games. The odd thing is Lisbon’s top line of John Tavares, Steven Stamkos and Niklas Danielsson was terrific in the series with 8 goals in 4 games, but the Portuguese still got routed. Biggest goal of the series? David Perron, Geneva, scored 52 seconds into overtime of Game 1 to whip the home crowd into a frenzy.

Stars of the Series

Patrick Wiercioch, Geneva, defenseman had 3 goals and 2 assists in 5 games to go with 6 hots and 8 blocks

Nazem Kadri, Geneva, 8 points in 4 games, +6 turnover ratio

John Tavares, Lisbon, 6 points in 4 games, 19 shots and +4 turnover ratio.

Paris 4, Madrid 3

The away team won 5 of the 7 games in this series, including Paris in the finale, by a 5-4 score despite being outshot 27-15. Paris’ secret weapon was Nathan Horton, who didn’t play in the regular season but was second-best on the team in scoring in the playoffs. Madrid’s Evander Kane, Craig Smith and Derek Stepan looked great and it’s a shame we won’t see more of them. Biggest goal of the season? Giulio Scandella’s backhander to beat Robin Lehner and gave Paris a 5-2 lead and it held up to be the series-winning goal.