Munich, Germany - After a two-week break, all DEL teams got back into action Friday for gameday 20. The top of the table remained the same as Cologne, Mannheim and Berlin all skated to victories. Elsewhere, the Hamburg Freezers continued to look sharp on home ice.

The league-leading Kölner Haie (45 points) managed to bounce back from Tuesday’s loss in Hamburg, hanging on to a 3-2 (3-0, 0-1, 0-1) road win over the Hannover Scorpions. Cologne jumped out to a commanding lead: Scores by Dave McLlwain, Niclas Sundblad and Eduard Lewandowski had the Haie up 3-0 after just 13 minutes. The early offensive outburst proved to be enough. A second-period goal by Lorenz Funk and a tally from Todd Simon with under four minutes to go in regulation was all the Scorpions managed to put on the board.

Jason Podollan scored three powerplay goals as the second-place Mannheim Adler (44 points) routed the Nuremberg Ice Tigers 7-3 (3-1, 1-1, 3-1). The injury-troubled visitors kept the game close for two periods. Steve Junker’s tally that made it 4-2 with just 22 seconds to go in the middle frame turned out to be the neckbreaker. It was Mannheim’s only even-strength goal of the night. The Adler scored five times on the man-advantage, including Podollan’s hat trick, and also got a shorthander from Andy Roach late in the first.

With head coach Pierre Page hospitalized with an ear infection, the third-place Berlin Eisbären (43 points) did not look very impressive against ERC Ingolstadt. Berlin fell behind early but managed to come from behind to beat Ingolstadt 3-1 (1-1, 1-0, 1-0). Coming off a surprising road win at Düsseldorf, Francois Bouchard put the visiting team on the scoreboard just four minutes into the campaign. But late strikes from John Gruden and Yvon Corriveau in the waning seconds of the first and second period respectively turned the momentum. A powerplay tally by Kelly Fairchild sealed Berlin’s 3-1 win midway through the third.

Hamburg wins again

Three days after opening their new arena with a win over the Kölner Haie, the Hamburg Freezers skated to a 4-2 (0-1, 2-0, 2-1) win over the Frankfurt Lions. Bobby House had a goal and two assists as the Freezers won consecutive games for the first time ever.

With starting netminder Andrej Trefilov back from injury, the Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars ended Schwenningen’s three-game win-streak, downing the Wild Wings 4-2 (1-0, 1-1, 2-1). Düsseldorf’s defenseman Jakub Ficenec will be out several weeks with a sprained MCL.

The Krefeld Pinguine had a five-game win streak snapped, losing 3-2 (0-0, 2-2, 0-0, 1-0) to the Iserlohn Roosters after penalty shootout.

After eleven failed attempts, Stephane Robitaille converted the winning penalty shot as the Kassel Huskies downed the Augsburg Panthers on the road, 3-2 (1-0, 0-1, 1-1, 1-0) after shootout, extending Augsburg’s losing streak to ten straight games.