Munich, Germany - With their third straight win, the Kölner Haie managed to stay on top of the table as the DEL headed into its second weekend. Dwayne Norris and Alex Hicks scored early powerplay goals as the Haie held the Frankfurt Lions in check, 3-1, Friday night. Arch rival Düsseldorf kept in touch with a 6-3 road victory over the struggling Krefeld Pinguine. Newcomer Ingolstadt built on its strong opening week performances and was only 19 seconds shy of its first-ever road win. Meanwhile, the relocated Munich Barons are off to their worst start in franchise history.

Dave McLlwain, who also picked up two assists, scored an empty-netter with only 18 seconds remaining to seal Cologne’s 3-1 home win over Frankfurt (2-0, 0-1, 1-0). The game was on the line till the final seconds after 39-year-old Greg Adams cut Cologne’s early 2-0 lead in half midway through the game.

Beaucage strikes twice

A strong second period lifted the Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars to a 6-3 (2-2, 3-0, 1-1) victory at Krefeld. After a turbulent opening period, the DEG took control in the middle frame, jumping out to a commanding 5-2 lead behind scores from Neil Eisenhut, Marc Beaucage and Leo Stefan. Beaucage also scored Düsseldorf’s first tally of the night. While the Metro Stars have not lost in regulation yet, the Krefeld Pinguine suffered their second straight defeat after opening the season with an impressive 5-1 rout of the Hamburg Freezers.

The Freezers showed improvement, but also lost their second of 12 consecutive road games. Hamburg remains at the bottom of the table after being downed by the Augsburg Panthers, 3-4 (1-1, 1-2, 1-1), marking the worst start in the four-year history of the former Munich Barons franchise. Youngster Peter Abstreiter scored two powerplay goals for the Freezers, who took an early lead but then fell behind 3-1 midway through the game. A tally by defenseman Jeff Tory and Abstreiter’s second goal tied the game at 3-3, but former NHLer Maxim Galanov gave the Panthers their first regulation win of the season.

Kassel still unbeaten after Robitaille’s last-gasp goal

Expansion team ERC Ingolstadt continued to look hot after a strong opening weekend, but came up 19 seconds short of its first-ever road win. Kassel’s Stephane Robitaille played spoiler, sending the game into overtime with an extra attacker on. Former Munich Baron Alex Serikow converted two penalty shots for Kassel to give the Huskies a lucky 5-4 (1-2, 2-1, 1-1, 1-0) win after a six-round shootout and keep their unbeaten record alive. Terry Campbell scored Ingolstadt’s only conversion.

On the man-advantage, Sean Tallaire found Jean-Francois Jomphe all open at the opposing post to tie Kassel’s early lead. Defender Francois Bouchard kept his three-game goal-scoring streak alive, wristing the puck past netminder Rich Parent from the right faceoff circle to give Ingolstadt a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission. Kassel reclaimed the lead in the middle frame after a tally by Sven Valenti and a wrap-around goal by Viktor Cherbayev. But Ingolstadt responded. Campbell got the equalizer midway through the second. With 8:49 to go in the third, Glen Goodall got stopped on a nice solo effort, but Jason Young knocked the rebound across the goal line to put Ingolstadt ahead 4-3 on the man-advantage. Shayne Toporowski then missed a chance to put the game out of reach before Kassel’s Robitaille came up with the last-gasp equalizer, lifting the puck over former Husky netminder Ilpo Kauhanen from the near right slot.

Kennedy puts Adler on winning track

The Mannheim Adler continued to struggle but managed to skate past the hapless Schwenningen Wild Wings. The 4-1 (0-1, 2-0, 2-0) home win moved Mannheim into third place. Jochen Molling’s powerplay goal gave the Wings a 1-0 lead after the first. Mike Kennedy put Mannheim back on track with his game-tying goal on a two-man advantage early in the second. Tomas Martinec, Steve Junker and Andy Roach added goals to seal the win.

Nuremberg got its second win of the season, downing the Iserlohn Roosters 3-2 (2-1, 1-0, 0-1) at home. None of the five goals was scored on even strength. Nuremberg jumped out to a 3-1 lead on powerplay tallies from Shawn Anderson and Chris Luongo, Martin Reichel’s eventual game-winner late in the second was a short-hander. Scott King and Justin Harney scored Iserlohn’s two powerplay goals.

On Thursday, Keith Aldridge and Steve Walker scored early goals as the Berlin Eisbären blanked the Hannover Scorpions 2-0 (2-0, 0-0, 0-0), giving goalie Richard Shulmistra his first shutout of the season.