Spengler cup day 3: OT thriller and Davos gain revenge

pic from: Spengler cup.ch

Geneve- Servette    4  -  3  CSKA MOSCOW            

in OVERTIME

In a great game of Ice Hockey in the Spengler Cup, the afternoon match saw a come from behind victory for Swiss club Geneve-Servette over the famous Russian side CSKA Moscow, taking it 4-3 in overtime to remain unbeaten in the tournament. 

Geneve were trailing after 2:15 in the game, when a puck thrown across goal by Alexander Frolov saw it go in off Garrett Stafford skate for a 1-0 lead to the Russians.

However the Swiss side came back at 8:06 in the period, when Denis Hollenstein made it 1-1 after a pass by the boards behind the CSKA nets, saw him skated round to the front of the net and score past Ilya Proskryakov to get them back on level terms.

CSKA Moscow took the lead once again in the match up with Alexander Radulov scoring the go ahead goal for the Russians, as Moscow dumped the puck up ice and saw Radulov chase down the puck as he broke away from the defence and made a little move, before backhanding it the net past Robert Mayer for a 2-1 lead at 27:38.

At 30:57 ex Detroit Red Wings player Sergei Fedorov then scored, after his wrist shot beat the netminder on the powerplay to put CSKA 3-1 up in the game. 

Then came the Swiss come back. As Kaspers Daugavins made it 3-2 when a cross ice pass by Inti Pestoni found Markus Nordlund, whose pass back across goal saw Daugavins tap home for a 3-2 score.

Third period wise saw Geneve-Servette go in search of the tying goal, with them trailing by one goal looking to push forward. 

The game became end to end, with each team looking for the crucial next goal for obvious reason and it came the way of the Swiss side. With Alexandre Picard tying the game at 3-3 as the rebound fell his way as he dispatched it past llya Proskuryakov to make the game level, heading into the final five minutes of play. So with neither side able to score in regulation the game went into overtime.

In the overtime period Geneve-Servette scored the overtime winner on the powerplay, after Yakov Rylov was penalised on CSKA for tripping up Daugavins with his stick.

So on the resulting powerplay Kaspars Daugavins scored his second of the game as he blasted home the game winner. 

HC DAVOS    3 - 2   TEAM CANADA 

In a rematch of the 2012 Spengler Cup final, Davos gained a bit of revenge on Team Canada, in what was a close game between the two sides. Neither side could find the finishing touch in the opening period of play, as the game was scoreless after 20 minutes of hockey with both sides having 10 shots a piece in the period at the Vallant Arena in Davos, Switzerland.

Second period saw the home team HC Davos score twice to get the arena jumping, as at 27:19 Marcus Paulsson scored to give the host the 1-0 lead, after a nice spin move from just outside the Canadian zone, saw Paulsson pass to Niklas Persson who then passed back it across goal for Paulsson and he buried it for a lead to the Swiss club.

Peter Guggiberg made it 2-0 at 31:43, when the forward skated from round the nets to collect the puck and then fired it on goal, where there was a bit of traffic round the Canadian`s net and he found the inside of the top corner for a good goal and gave the Swiss fans in Yellow and Blue extra reason to shout about.

Dino Wieser and Micki Dupont then had a little set two after the play,with the Davos player taking exception to the Canadian player after the whistle and both received 2 minutes for Roughing.

Team Canada then got on the scoreboard at 44:45 thanks to a strike by Darren Haydar. Haydar initial shot missed the target when open, but Byron Ritchie was on hand to collect the puck behind the Davos net and play it back to the side of the net for Haydar to roof and make it a 2-1 game and get the Canadians back in the contest.

Andres Ambhul looked to have killed the game off for the hosts at 57:01, as his wrist shot on Davos powerplay made the game 3-1. Ambhul skated freely into the Team Canada zone and with a quick release, the puck flew in top corner over Allen York for a 3-1 scoreline.

 Nicklas Danielsson was then called for Slashing at 57:45 as it gave Canada a chance to make it a nervy couple of minutes. Team Canada scored their own powerplay goal ,as Maxim Noreau scored with a shot from the blue line to make it 3-2 and despite Team Canada pulling their goalie for the extra attacker, Davos held on for the win.