Munich, Germany - Christmas Day was a not a day of giving in Nuremberg, where the Ice Tigers thrashed the troubled Mannheim Adler Wednesday afternoon on gameday 32 in the DEL. Expansion team ERC Ingolstadt had the league-leading Berlin Eisbären in the ropes, but yet again failed to deliver the knock-out punch. Elsewhere, the Krefeld Pinguine struggled heavily despite jumping out to a 5-0 lead.

With less than three minutes to go, Marc Beaufait scored a goal and set up a score by Yvon Corriveau to lift the Berlin Eisbären to a 3-2 (0-0, 1-1, 2-1) come-from-behind win over ERC Ingolstadt. The game was tied 1-1 after two periods after second-period goals from Berlin’s Boris Blank and Ingolstadt’s Kent Fearns (on the powerplay). The expansion team seemed to be en route to a big upset when former NHLer Erich Goldmann gave them a 2-1 lead with less than four minutes left in the game. But Berlin’s back-to-back strikes within 66 seconds turned the game around.

“It was a lucky win,” Eisbären head coach Pierre Page stated. “The league has become stronger. You got to bring a 100-percent effort against alleged underdogs, too.”

The Frankfurt Lions also squandered a 2-1 lead, losing 3-2 (1-2, 2-0, 0-0) to the Hamburg Freezers. A shorthanded goal from Ted Drury turned the momentum around in the middle frame. Jesse Belanger scored the game-winner for Hamburg on the man advantage at 16:44 of the second period.

Troubled Mannheim squad gets thrashed by Nuremberg

Rookie Franz Fritzmeier scored his first two goals in the DEL as the Nuremberg Ice Tigers thrashed the Mannheim Adler 5-1 (2-0, 3-0, 0-1). With regular starter Mike Rosati suspended because of his match penalty in the Düsseldorf game and backup Dimitri Pätzold representing Germany in the World Junior Championships in Canada, 17-year-old third-stringer Danny aus den Birken had to make his first-ever start in net for the Adler. Due to the World Juniors, suspensions or injuries, Mannheim was missing a total of nine regulars. Vitalij Aab, Thomas Schinko (both on the powerplay) and Terry Yake also scored for Nuremberg. Mannheim’s Stefan Ustorf spoiled Frederic Chabot’s shutout bid with just over two minutes to go.

David Musial had two goals and two assists as the Krefeld Pinguine hung on to edge the Iserlohn Roosters on the road, 5-4 (3-0, 2-2, 0-2). Brad Purdie also had a pair of goals, including one on the two-man advantage, as Krefeld jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the second period. The Pinguine nearly squandered the lead, though, as Iserlohn picked up momentum on powerplay tallies from Andrej Podkonicky and Colin Beardsmore, cutting the lead to 5-2 at the second intermission. Doug Ast added two more goals, including one on the 5-on-3 powerplay, but 5-4 was as close as the Roosters could get.

Elsewhere, third-period goals from Andrej Teljukin and Zdenek Nedved scored third-period goals to lift the Kassel Huskies to a 4-2 (2-1, 0-0, 2-1) home win over the Augsburg Panthers.

Jeff Christian had a pair of goals and an assist as the Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars tallied five unanswered goals to get a 5-1 (1-1, 1-0, 3-0) away win over the Schwenningen Wild Wings.