Matthew Lombardi notched three points and goaltender Tobias Stephan stopped all 23 shots he faced as Geneve-Servette defeated the Rochester Americans, 5-0, in Thursday’s opening matchup of the 2013 Spengler Cup at Vaillant Arena in Davos, Switzerland.
Lombardi, a veteran of 538 National Hockey League games with Calgary, Phoenix, Nashville, Toronto and Anaheim, had two goals and an assist in the contest. Kaspars Daugavins, a 2011 Calder Cup champion with the Binghamton Senators, and former AHL forwards Juraj Simek and Cody Almond also scored for Geneve-Servette, which is making its second Spengler Cup appearance in four years.
2012 Calder Cup Playoffs MVP Alexandre Picard and former AHL All-Star defenseman Garrett Stafford each had an assist for Geneve-Servette, which finished with a 37-23 advantage in shots.
Alex Hutchings and Brayden McNabb each finished with a team-high three shots for the Amerks and goaltender Matt Hackett recorded 32 saves in Rochester’s return to Switzerland for the first time since 1996.
“The game obviously got a little out of hand, but I was pretty happy with the way we played,” said Amerks head coach Chadd Cassidy after the game. “We were playing shorthanded and we lost five of our guys to call-ups and injuries. I thought the guys played well tonight and it was certainly good experience for them, but you could definitely see the difference in both our styles tonight.”
The 2013 Spengler Cup continues from Davos, Switzerland as the Amerks battle Sergei Fedorov and CSKA Moscow on Friday at 9 a.m. ET.
