Kontinental Hockey League (Russia)
Salvat Yulaev Ufa 1, Ak Bars Kazan 0 (Ufa wins series 4-1): There will be a new Gagarin Cup Champion this year, as two time defending champions Ak Bars Kazan were downed on Thursday by a single goal from the KHL's best player, Alexander Radulov. Patrick Thoresen and Maxim Kondratiev picked up the assists, while Erik Ersberg pitched a 27 save shutout to advance to the Conference Finals for the second straight year. Last year, that's where Kazan knocked them out in six, so this was as good of a revenge as any. They'll probably get a few days off before resuming their Gagarin Cup run next weekend.
Avangard Omsk 4, Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 (2OT) (Omsk leads series 3-2): Two straight games, two straight multiple overtimes, two straight OT winners from one time St. Louis Blues prospect defenseman Andrei Pervyshin. It only took 26:08 of extra time for Pervyshin to break through this time, so maybe in the next game it'll be a Brian Skrudland-esque first ten seconds goal. Jaromir Jagr finally scored his first playoff goal in this one to open the scoring, while Dmitriy Semin had a goal and an assist to lead the teams offensively. Omsk can wrap up the series on the road on Saturday. Here are the hilites:
Friday's Game: SKA St. Petersburg @ Atlant Moscow Oblast (5:30 PM CET/12:30 PM EST) (SKA leads series 3-2)
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl are awaiting the winner of this series in the Western Conference Final, but SKA will have to try and win the hard way on the road to book that date. Atlant is trying to come back from a 3-1 deficit to force Game 7.
National League A (Switzerland)
Kloten Flyers 3, SC Bern 2 (OT) (Kloten leads series 2-0): Michael Liniger was the hero at 4:39 of OT as Kloten gets the first road win of the series. Tommi Santala continued his impressive playoffs to date with a goal and an assist, as Kloten now gets a chance to build a commanding 3-0 lead when they go home for Saturday night's Game 3.
HC Davos 5, EV Zug 2 (Davos leads series 2-0): Reto Von Arx had a goal and two assists to lead Davos to a road victory after falling behind 2-1 after 20 minutes. Davos scored three times in the third period, with Petr Taticek scoring with 2:05 to play to put them up by two and seal the victory. The series heads back to the little Alps resort town on Saturday.
Ambri-Piotta 2, Rapperswil Lakers 1 (OT) (Ambri leads play-out 2-0): Another low scoring affair from the team from Europe's smallest major pro hockey town, as Paola Duca provided the heroics with a helper from Martin Kariya at 11:27 of the extra period. 2011 Draft Watch: Gregory Hoffman got an assist on Julian Walker's first period goal for Ambri. The series heads back to Rapperswil on Saturday.
Slovnaft Extraliga (Slovakia)
HC Kosice 4, Dukla Trencin 3 (SO) (Kosice leads series 3-0): Is anyone going to beat Kosice this playoff run? They've built on their record setting regular season with seven straight playoff wins, starting to put together a season that resembles the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens. They needed a shootout this time, with captain Peter Bartos delivering the game winning shot. Roman Tvrdon had a goal and an assist in a losing cause for Trencin. Game 4 goes tomorrow as Kosice goes for the sweep.
Friday's Game: HC Kosice @ Dukla Trencin (6:00 PM CET/1:00 PM EST)
Kvalserien to Elitserien (Sweden)
No games in the actual Elitserien playoffs yesterday, but the qualification for next year's season hit round 2.
Växjö Lakers 2, Rögle BK 1: Daniel Öshberg scored the winner in the second period as Växjö takes their record to 2-0 while Rögle go down to 1-1. David Lundbohm got two assists while Oscar Ahlsenfelt made 32 saves for the win.
Södertälje SK 6, Mora IK 1: It looks like Södertälje are making a statement here, getting six different goal scorers on the road as they try and retain their position in the Elitserien. Ryan Lasch had a goal and an assist while his teammates scored six goals on only 25 shots.
MODO 6, Örebrö 3: Byron Ritchie had a goal and an assist, Morten Madsen scored on a penalty shot and ex-NHLers Niklas Sundstrom and Ladislav Nagy also scored as MODO got their first win of the Kvalserien. It was a tough game for Örebrö, who were outshot 39-25, mostly in the first two periods where they fell behind 5-1.
Kvalserien Standings: 1. Växjö (2-0-0-0), 2. Södertälje (1-1-0-0), 3. MODO (1-0-1-0), 4. Rögle (0-1-0-1), 5. Örebrö (0-0-1-1), 6. Mora (0-0-0-2).
The Kvalserien series resumes with Round 3 on Saturday.
Friday's Elitserien Games: Skellefteå @ Linköping (6:50 PM CET/1:50 PM EST, Skellefteå leads 3-2); Djurgården @ Luleå (6:40 PM CET/1:40 PM EST, Luleå leads series 3-2).
Deutsche Eishockey Liga (Germany)
Friday's Games: Adler Mannheim @ Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers (7:35 PM CET/2:35 PM EST, Mannheim leads best of 3 series 1-0), EHC München @ Kölner Haie (8:30 PM CET/3:30 PM EST, Köln leads best of 3 series 1-0).
The play-ins could wrap up today, but Game 3s are scheduled for Sunday if not.
SM-Liiga (Finland)
Friday's Games: Ilves (Tampere) @ JYP (Jyvaskala); Blues (Espoo) @ Ässät (Pori); Jokerit (Helsinki) @ HIFK (Helsinki); KalPa (Kuopio) @ Lukko (Rauma).
These are the first games of the Kanada-malje quarterfinals. All games start at 5:30 PM CET/12:30 PM EST.