Munich, Germany - With two of the eight playoff spots still up for grabs, the regular season in the DEL ended in dramatic fashion Sunday night. In need of a win and either a loss by Kassel or Hamburg, the Iserlohn Roosters put on an amazing rout against the Krefeld Pinguine. A last-gasp goal ended the underdog’s playoff dreams, though.

Doug Ast and Chris Lipsett each scored a pair of goals as the Iserlohn Roosters thrashed the sluggish Krefeld Pinguine 8-1 (3-0, 3-1, 2-0). Well aware of their do-or-die situation, the Roosters were firing on all cylinders right from the opening faceoff. They only needed a little over 12 minutes to jump out to a commanding 3-0 lead behind tallies from Steve Washburn, defenseman Jörgen Eriksson (powerplay) and Andrej Podkonicky. Already qualified for the playoffs, Krefeld not only played very lethargic, but also hurt itself with a lack of discipline. Forward Sergej Stas and even head coach Butch Goring received game misconducts. Jeff Dessner and Ast extended Iserlohn’s lead to 5-0 on back-to-back 5-on-3 powerplay opportunities midway through the second period. Still on the man advantage, Lipsett added another goal to make it 6-0. Patrik Augusta came up with Krefeld’s only goal on the man advantage late in the middle frame, before Ast (powerplay) and Lipsett added two more goals late in the game to seal Iserlohn’s 8-1 win.

Late Drury tally sends Hamburg into postseason

With Hamburg trailing by a goal in Frankfurt, Iserlohn looked like the team of the moment. But Hamburg’s Ted Drury scored the 3-3 equalizer 3:36 from the final horn, enough to eliminate the Iserlohn Roosters and send the Freezers into the playoffs. Drury also converted the game-winning attempt in the penalty shootout to give Hamburg a 4-3 (1-1, 1-2, 1-0, 1-0) road win over the Frankfurt Lions.

Behind goals from Sven Valenti, Zdenek Nedved and Mikael Wahlberg, the Kassel Huskies jumped out to a 3-1 first-period lead and held on for a 3-2 (3-1, 0-1, 0-0) home win over the Augsburger Panther to claim the 7th seed. Defenseman Shayne McCosh and P.C. Drouin scored for Augsburg. Kassel’s captain Tobias Abstreiter played despite a severe rib bruise. The Huskies did not waste any time. Valenti opened the scoring on a wrap-around just 48 seconds into the contest.

The Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars secured the 3rd seed with a 6-5 road win after penalty shootout (3-1, 1-3, 1-1) over the Schwenninger Wild Wings. Schwenningen, which has to battle against relegation in a best-of-seven series against the Frankfurt Lions, finished the season with a DEL-record 18 straight losses. Daniel Kreutzer converted the game-winning penalty shot for Düsseldorf. Dave Czychowski scored two goals and two assists for the Wings, teammate Mike Bullard, who turned 42 on Monday, had a goal and two helpers.

Nuremberg wins preview of first-round series

Thomas Greilinger and defender Chris Luongo each had a goal and an assist as the Nürnberg Ice Tigers skated to a 4-0 (1-0, 3-0, 0-0) home win over the Mannheim Adler. With Nuremberg finishing in 5th place and Mannheim finishing in 4th, both teams will meet again in the first round of the playoffs. Shawn Anderson and Terry Yake also scored for the Tigers.

The second-seeded Kölner Haie, who will face the 7th-place Kassel Huskies in the first round of the playoffs, ended the regular season with a 5-2 (0-0, 4-2, 1-0) home win over the Hannover Scorpions. Ron Pasco scored back-to-back second-period goals within a 56-second span to give the Haie a 3-1 lead. Stefan Hellkvist pulled the Scorpions back to within a goal, but Cologne turned the momentum on a late powerplay tally from defender Shane Peacock. Youngster Sebastian Furchner put the game away at 5-2 with 6:39 to go in regulation.

In a meaningless game, expansion team ERC Ingolstadt closed out its first DEL season with a 5-3 (2-2, 0-1, 3-0) win over the Berlin Eisbären, who will enter the playoffs as the top-seeded team. Captain Glen Goodall and defenseman Francois Bouchard each had a goal and an assist as Ingolstadt rallied back from a 3-2 second-period deficit. Down by a goal, Ingolstadt turned the momentum early in the third when Bouchard (powerplay) and defenseman Steve Lingren scored only 34 seconds apart. Shayne Toporowski capped the scoring with another powerplay tally 1:36 from the final horn. Ingolstadt’s Jason Young notched a short-hander during a two-man advantage for the Eisbären, Danny Pyka, Rob Shearer (powerplay) and Sven Felski scored for Berlin.

Playoffs and “Playdown” start Wednesday, March 12

In the opening round of the playoffs, the Berlin Eisbären (1st seed) host the Hamburg Freezers (8th), defending champion Kölner Haie (2nd) hosts the Kassel Huskies (7th), the Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars (3rd) host the Krefeld Pinguine (6th) and last year’s finalist Mannheim Adler (4th) hosts the Nürnberg Ice Tigers (5th). The higher seeded teams open the best-of-seven series at home Wednesday night.

Home-ice advantage will shift from game to game. The following two rounds, semi finals and the final, will be best-of-five. If a game is tied after regulation, there will be a twenty-minute sudden-death overtime. If the OT period remains scoreless, the game will be decided in a penalty shootout. In a possible series-clinching game, there will be unlimited sudden death overtime instead of a shootout.

The Frankfurt Lions (15th) and Schwenninger Wild Wings (16th) face each other in the so-called “Play Down”, also starting Wednesday night. The loser of this best-of-seven series will be relegated to Division-2. Frankfurt will be without the services of former NHL netminder Dominic Roussel, who has been sidelined by a neck injury for four weeks already.

For the teams finishing 9th to 14th, the Iserlohn Roosters, Hannover Scorpions, Augsburger Panther and ERC Ingolstadt, the season is over.