EBEL: Vienna overcomes the Bulldogs

With only two rounds remaining until the international break, teams want to put themselves in a good position for the remainder of the season. Dornbirn had beaten the Capitals in the first two meetings this season and wanted to continue this streak on the road.

Though, it did not take long for Dornbirn’s David Madlener to face his first tests in the Austrian capital. The 23-year-old Austrian net minder flashed his glove on a shot by Derek Whitmore, who was set up nicely by Simon Gamache. In the seventh minute Madlener was beaten, as Kurtis McLean deflected Jamie Fraser’s wrist shot from the point. Vienna overall was the more active team in the first 20 minutes of play, but also Dornbirn was smart on capitalizing from their opponent’s mistake. Chris D’Alvise and James Arniel created a two-on-one, and later even a two-on-zero rush, but both times Nathan Lawson’s pads were in the way.

In the 17^th minute, the Bulldog’s defence was under pressure on a couple of occasions. Eventually MacGregor Sharp, assisted by Whitmore, was able to make it 2-0. Dornbirn though did not want to go into the first intermission down by two and so Dustin Sylvester cut the lead, taking advantage of a turnover by Vienna’s Michael Schiechl.

Vienna did not waste their man advantages in the middle frame. In the 26^th minute Troy Milam’s one timer found the back of the net. Three minutes later Florian Iberer was the first to find the puck and beat the sprawling Madlener for the fourth time. Sharp even had the chance for the fifth goal, but he missed the wide open net.

Once again, Dornbirn had no intention to give up and exectued on a counter attack. Kyle Greentree’s shot somehow trickled through Lawson and Chris D’Alvise placed the puck beyond the goal line.

In the final period the Capitals stayed in control of the game and smartly defended their 4-2 lead . They will not have much time to rest though, since in less than 20 hours they will face the Sharks from Innsbruck.

In the other EBEL-games on Friday, Salzburg defended its first place with a win in Slovenia. Linz beat Bolzano in the overtime, whereas Klagenfurt took a crazy 7:6 victory in Znojmo.

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