Saturday games
Copenhagen 1, Athens 0 – Roberto Luongo, who was a big reason the Copenhagen Tridents were highly successful during the first three years of the EURO League, is back in Denmark these days after a two-year stint in Zurich, and as the Tridents’ number one goalie, he is proving he still has a little magic in his pads. The 37-year-old Canadian recorded his 3rd shutout of the the season and 24th of his career. Luongo made 30 saves against the Greeks, including 15 against three players: Anze Kopitar, T.J. Oshie and Jason Pominville. The only goal scored in the game almost wasn’t. Johnny Gaudreau dipsied and doodled in front of the Athens net and finally let go a backhand shot that got through Athens goalie Jaroslav Halak just as the first period buzzer sounded. After a video review, it was learned that the puck crossed the goal line just before time expired. Gaudreau leads all rookies in goals, assists and points.
Oslo 6, Gothenburg 5 (OT – SO) – Frolunda gave Olso a 5-0 head start, rattled off 5 goals in five minutes and 13 seconds of the third period to tie the game, and then lost it in a shootout. It wasn’t a textbook goaltending demonstration at either end of the rink. Mikhail Grabovski scored twice for the Outlaws, Zach Parise had a goal and two assists and Tyler Seguin added two assists and wound up scoring the winning goal in the shootout. Petr Vrana led Gothenburg skaters with 2 points and he had assists on the first goal of the five-goal outburst and on the overtime-forcing goal, scored by defenseman Alec Martinez.
Prague 6, St. Petersburg 4 – The Wolf Pack scored 4 times in the first period, but St. Petersburg countered with 4 of their own in the second period. Mark Scheifele scored his second of the contest for Prague in the third and that would up being the game-winner. Scheifele now has 5 goals this year. Antti Niemi had a rough night in goal for the Red Stars, letting 6 goals past him in 18 shots. Four players – two from each team – had 3-point nights. For Prague, Alex Galchenyuk had a goal and two assists, while Marcus Johansson had three assists. St. Pete’s Wayne Simmonds and Jonathan Huberdeau each scored a goal and had two assists. Brent Burns was all over the ice for the Red Stars, dishing out 8 hits and blocking 2 shots in addition to scoring a goal and adding an assist.
Moscow 3, Belfast 2 – In a clash of two of the top teams in the Northern Conference, Blake Wheeler made the difference for Moscow as they left Belfast with 2 points. Wheeler scored in the second period to give Spartak a 2-1 lead in a tight game, and after Cody Franson scored for Belfast to tie it in the third, Wheeler forced his way past P.K. Subban to score a shorthanded goal. Wheeler also led everyone in shots on goal with 7.
Minsk 3, Stockholm 1 – Brenden Gallagher of Stockholm scored the game’s first goal early in the first period and that seemed to poke the Belarusian bear. After scoring, Gallagher skated past the Minsk bench on his way to customary high fives from his own teammates and he must have said something the Hussars didn’t like because several of them stood up and seemed to be yelling something at him.Minsk proceeded to fire shot after shot at Stockholm goalie Braden Holtby, hitting the 50 mark by the end of the game. Holtby was great and stopped almost everything. Mark Giordano had him figured out, however, scoring on two of his three shots on goal. The defenseman had just one goal coming into the contest. Minsk captain Nick Backstrom also scored and he now has 27 goals this season. No one in the league has more.
Helsinki 3, Zurich 2 (OT) – Alexander Radulov scored in overtime after taking a goal-mouth feed from Paul Stastny and that ended a close game that Zurich probably could have won. Instead, it was a crushing defeat for a few reasons. The Lions outshot the Jokerit 34-25 and after trailing 2-0 in the second, Zurich was able to tie the score on goals by Mikael Granlund and Jacob Trouba. Trouba made a nice play to set up the Granlund goal and he has been one of the better Lions in what has been a very trying season in Zurich. About 3 minutes after scoring the tying-goal, Trouba got in the way of a Jakub Voracek shot and left the game with a finger injury. As Zurich’s luck would have it, the finger broke and Trouba will need surgery to fix it. He will miss about a month of action. To add insult to injury, the guy who scored the winning goal, Radulov, is a former Lion. He was obtained in a Season 5 trade for – yes, you guessed it, Trouba.
Sunday games
eurohockeyleague 