The Vienna Capitals were not hospitable hosts for former coach Tommy Samuelsson, scoring three early goals on his team on their way to a 4-1 win over Färjestad Karlstad. Villach SV, SaiPa Lappeenranta, Kölner Haie and Skelleftea AIK scratched out slim 2-1 wins.
Staff writers
Briançon Diables Rouges 1-2 Villach SV
The Briançon Diables Rouges got an early goal from Dave LaBrecque and that was almost enough for them to squeak out a win at home, but Villach SV scored twice in the last nine minutes to tie it, then win it. John Lammers scored on a wrister from the high slot with 8:33 to go and then exactly seven minutes later, with 1:33 on the clock, Brooke McBride shoveled home a loose puck in front.
EV Zug 1-2 SaiPa Lappeenranta
Dave McIntyre and Robbie Earl exchanged first period goals for SaiPa Lappenranta and EV Zug, respectively, and then Sami Venalainen's one-timer from the hashmarks in the 26th minute put visiting SaiPa back in the lead. It eventually held up as the game-winning goal as the game ended 2-1.
"The last two periods I felt fine, but the first period was a bit on and off," said SaiPa goaltender Jussi Markkanen, who used to play for Zug. "It was really nice (coming back). I played here for four years and my family had a really nice time. We arrived on Monday so I had a chance to visit some friends."
Krefeld Pinguine 1-2 Skelleftea AIK
Krefeld's Herberts Vasiljevs opened the scoring at the eight-minute mark and Erik Fossel tied it for Skelleftea early in the second period. It was then a tight defensive battle that was stayed 1-1 until midway through the third period, when Erik Andersson scored on a long shot off an offensive-zone faceoff.
Kölner Haie 2-1 HC Kosice
It was another defensive battle in Cologne, where hometown Kölner Haie struck early. They briefly had a two-goal lead in the second period, but Jiri Bicek scored on a rebound to get Kosice on the board late in the period. The home side then played strong defence in the third period to preserve the victory.
"It is a little bit different to play against other nations. They have a different style to play hockey but I think we did good," said game-winning goal scorer Andreas Falk. On his goal, he said, "We had a really good powerplay there where all five guys were involved. Gogulla found me a couple of seconds before the goal and I lost the puck and it came back again [to Gogulla] and I went to the slot and tried to get open. He found my stick and it was kind of his goal. I didn’t have to do that much, I just deflected it in."
On the lone Kosice goal a few minutes later, Bicek said, "It was at the end of the power play so I just dumped it in and the guys won the battle on the board and then it was kind of a 2-on-1. Our young guy Milan Kolena decided to shoot so I went to the net and the puck just found me and I was happy to put it in."
Vienna Capitals 4-1 Färjestad Karlstad
The Vienna Capitals took an early three-goal lead on visiting Färjestad Karlstad, then managed to play well defensively the rest of the way to ride home a 4-1 victory. Kris Fucault scored the game's first and last goals, firing a low wrister in the third minute and one-timing a centring pass with under two minutes left. The win spoiled the return of Tommy Samuelsson, the former Capitals coach who was behind the Färjestad bench today.