Eisbären Berlin travelled to western Switzerland and outshot Genève-Servette 29-16, but the home team got great goaltending from Stéphane Charlin and were efficient on their chances to win 6-2. Ex-NHLers Markus Granlund, Jimmy Vesey and Jesse Puljujärvi recorded three points each.

In fact, it was Genève that exploded out of the gate, scoring twice in the first five minutes. The first goal came off a face-off in the Berlin zone, with Puljujärvi feeding Vili Saarijärvi for the shot from the high slot. Then less than two minutes later, Vesey and Simon Le Coultre set up a Granlund one-timer from the hashmarks.

It was a tough start for the German champs, but they started mounting some offence the other way. Genève did a good job of keeping them at bay until they finally struck on the powerplay late in the period. Liam Kirk fed Leonhard Pföderl for the one-timer and Gabriel Fontaine scored on the rebound.

For a lengthy stretch in the second period, Berlin outshot the hosts 11-0 but scored only once in that time. Ty Ronning tied it for Berlin just past the game’s midpoint when he found a loose puck in front of the net and beat Charlin from in close.

It looked like the score might stay that way into the second intermission but, just after the expiration of a Genève powerplay, Granlund set up Sakari Manninen for a one-time blast with 13 seconds remaining to regain the lead.

Tenacious forechecking down low by Nicolas Müller and Vesey led to Granlund’s second goal and third point of the game with 11:18 to go, restoring Genève’s two-goal lead. They effectively put the game away on the powerplay with 6:55 to go with Puljujärvi setting up Vesey.

Berlin coach Eric Dubois gambled and pulled goalie Jack LaFontaine for a sixth attacker with over five minutes to play, but it led to a Noah Rod empty-net goal to round out the scoring.