Munich, Germany - On gameday 18, the Mannheim Adler took advantage of Berlin’s first home loss and moved back to the top of the DEL table. Bothered by injuries, the Berlin Eisbären looked hapless against the Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars. Meanwhile, Devin Edgerton scored a goal and three helpers as the Adler routed the Hannover Scorpions on home ice. A league record of five games ended in regulation ties and had to be decided by penalty shootouts.

Playing without injured defensemen Rob Leask and Ricard Persson, the Berlin Eisbären never found their rhythm against the strong DEG Metro Stars Thursday night. Led by Norwegian Trond Magnussen, who had two goals and an assist, the Metro Stars needed just 41 minutes to put the game out of reach. Düsseldorf’s Jean-Francois Quintin made it 2-1 on a short-hander late in the opening period. Goals by Leo Stefan and Tommy Jakobsen doubled the lead to 4-2 at the second intermission. Just 29 seconds into the third, Magnussen was set up by fellow-Norwegian Tore Vikingstad on the man advantage to cap the score at 5-2 (2-1, 2-1, 1-0).

Podollan scores twice for new league-leader

Mannheim basically needed just a period to capitalize on Berlin’s loss and move past the Eisbären with a 5-1 (3-0, 1-1, 1-0) home win over the Hannover Scorpions. The Adler jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead on goals by Stefan Ustorf, Jason Podollan and Yannick Seidenberg. An early second-period tally by the Scorpions couldn’t get Mannheim off track. Two powerplay goals, Podollan’s second tally and Edgerton’s fourth point, wrapped up the game for Mannheim.

Krefeld stuns Cologne

Five other contests had to be decided by penalty shootouts.

Minnesota Wild draftee Christoph Brandner converted the game-winning attempt as the Krefeld Pinguine upset the Kölner Haie on the road, 3-2 (0-0, 0-0, 2-2) after penalty shootout. After two scoreless periods, Brad Purdie got Krefeld on the board 4:40 into the third. But the Haie answered with back-to-back special teams goals around the midway point of the period. Just four minutes after Shane Peacock’s game-tying powerplay blast, Alex Hicks put Cologne in front with a short-handed tally. Krefeld responded on the same powerplay, though. Mario Doyon sent the game into OT just 28 ticks later.

Ruff’s return sparks sputtering offense, but Ingolstadt drops seventh straight

12th-place ERC Ingolstadt failed to get separation from the 13th-ranked Schwenningen Wild Wings. Instead, the guests closed the gap to a single point with a 4-3 (2-2, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0) win after penalty shootout. Jason Ruff’s return from a seven-week injury break sparked Ingolstadt’s sputtering offense. Jean-Francois Jomphe and Jason Young each had three points, but couldn’t avoid Ingolstadt’s seventh straight loss.

Ingolstadt got off to a good start when Young found Jomphe at the opposing post for the 1-0 lead on the man advantage just 89 seconds into the contest. But Schwenningen battled back and answered with a powerplay goal when Eric Houde deflected Jochen Molling’s shot from the left point past ERC netminder Ilpo Kauhanen for the equalizer at 7:28. It looked as if Ingolstadt would make the next move in a very fast-paced opening period. Sean Tallaire had Wild Wings goalie Ian Gordon already beaten, but got denied by the woodwork. So Schwenningen took a 2-1 lead on a fast break by defender Curtis Sheptak. He raced along the right boards and unleashed a low slapshot from the right faceoff circle, beating Kauhanen to the stick side. However Jomphe tied the affair at two apiece just nine seconds later, set up nicely by Young once again.

Another powerplay strike reinstalled Schwenningen’s lead. Out of heavy traffic, Francois Fortier lifted the puck under the crossbar to make it 3-2 in favor of the Wings. Ingolstadt rallied back a second time. With just under nine minutes to go, defenseman Kent Fearns scored from the left slot to send the contest to overtime. After four scoreless rounds of penalty shots, Eric Houde got the game-winner on Schwenningen’s final attempt in the OT shootout while Jomphe got denied by Wild Wings backup Steffen Karg, who was perfect, stopping all of Ingolstadt’s five attempts.

Hamburg finishes league-long road trip with third win

Bobby House converted the only penalty of the night as the Hamburg Freezers upset the thriving Iserlohn Roosters on the road, 3-2 (0-0, 0-1, 2-1, 1-0) after shootout, ending the longest road trip in league history. Freezers defenseman Jeff Tory got the game-tying goal with less than five minutes to go in the third, his second point of the night. After starting the season with 12 away games, the last-place Freezers will open their new homestead November 12 against the Kölner Haie.

The slumping Kassel Huskies ended up just a single second shy of their second win in eleven games. Martin Jiranek scored two third-period goals as the Nuremberg Ice Tigers rallied back from a two-goal deficit to down the Huskies 5-4 (1-2, 1-1, 2-1, 1-0). With time winding down, Jiranek scored the equalizer off a defenseman’s skate. Terry Yake came up with the game-winner in the ensuing penalty shootout.

The ailing Augsburg Panthers came back from two deficits in Frankfurt. They didn’t get more than a point for the regulation tie, though, as Greg Adams’s successful penalty conversion gave the Lions a 3-2 (1-1, 1-0, 0-1, 1-0) win after shootout.