“I’ll see you in Munich”
It is getting emotional in the DEL playoffs. After games 4 no team could finish a sweep. Instead Straubing came back against Munich and set some signs to go forward.
EHC München vs
Straubing Tigers 3-1 (5-0, 2-1 OT, 4-0, 1-2)
The Tigers received another tough loss in Munich on Sunday,
when David Leggio shut them out one more time and goals by Konrad Abeltshauser,
Jerome Samson and twice Mads Christensen secured a 4-0 home victory to set the
series to 3-0.
On Tuesday in Straubing the Tigers fought back and emotions
were flying high. Sean O’Connor of the Tigers and Munich’s Steve Pinizotto were
constantly trash talking and making some arrangements for the next meeting in
Munich, which won’t happen though as Pinizotto received his second 10 minute
penalty during the playoffs for a check to the head and will automatically miss
the next game. O’Connor seemed not to be aware of that as he shouted over to
him: “I’ll see you in Munich”.
Both teams did play hockey, too. Early in the second period
Martin Hinterstocker banged in a rebound off a Maury Edwards shot. Edwards himself
doubled the lead midway through the last period and due to a stellar
performance of goalie Matt Climie Straubing only had to receive one goal a few
minutes before the final horn.
The series will go back to Munich on Thursday.
Eisbären Berlin
vs Kölner Haie 2-2 (0-3, 1-0 OT, 5-1, 0-4)
Both teams could get some easy looking wins if you just see
the scores, but still the series is very tight. In Berlin the Polar Bears could
take over the lead with a 5-1 victory. The Sharks looked a bit out of place
that day, but found back to their tremendous defensive efforts they had shown
before in the series on Tuesday at home.
Back in Cologne goalie Gustaf Wesslau managed to blank Berlin
for a third time during the series in regulation time. And since Köln made good use of
their powerplays, scoring all 4 goals with the man advantage, they could even
the series to a 2-2 standing.
Iserlohn Roosters
vs Nürnberg Ice Tigers 1-3 (4-0, 2-4, 1-4, 1-7)
The Roosters have really fallen behind in this duel. The Ice
Tigers are making a great job in locking down one of the most dangerous
offensive lines in the league. In Iserlohn they came out concentrated and
blocked the known Iserlohn rush in the first minutes and even came out with a
1-0 lead after the first period, a feed not achieved by many teams this season.
With that positive experience backing them up, they went on to win the game in
Iserlohn 4-1.
In Nürnberg they started, where they left off in Iserlohn.
With 7 different scorers and only Marius Möchel having a 2-point night the Ice
Tigers thrashed Iserlohn with 7-1 to establish 3 match pucks going forward.
Wolfsburg
Grizzlies vs Düsseldorfer EG 3-1 (1-4, 3-2, 5-1, 1-0 OT)
Wolfsburg managed to pull away. At home in
game 3 Gerrit Fauser scored twice in the third period to lead the game towards
a 5-1 victory for the Grizzlies. Back in Düsseldorf it was more a goalies’ game.
Both keepers Mathias Niederberger and Felix Brückmann kept their crease clean
for 70 minutes before Brent Aubin played the role of the Grinch for the home
crowd and won the game in overtime.
Wolfsburg will enter the next home game with the chance to
close the series.