Defender Jörgen Eriksson scored his first-ever DEL goal 6:22 into the final period to lift the poised Iserlohn Roosters to a 3-1 (0-0, 2-1, 1-0) win over Berlin. Iserlohn dominated the game from the opening faceoff, but it took 30 minutes until Steve Washburn’s first goal broke the deadlock. A shot from Eisbären defenseman Ricard Persson tied the game four minutes later. With 1:18 left in the middle frame, Washburn fooled Eisbären goalie Richard Shulmistra on a wrap-around to give the Roosters a 2-1 lead. Berlin’s David Roberts scored the apparent equalizer in the final second of the period, but the goal was disallowed.
The ninth-place Roosters are now only two points behind Hamburg, which suffered a big setback in the run for the final playoff berth. With new Swedish head coach Mats Weiderstal making his debut behind the bench, the hot Hannover Scorpions routed the Hamburg Freezers 5-1 (2-0, 2-1, 1-0). Gilbert Dionne and Todd Simon both scored two goals and two assists as the Scorpions skated to their third straight win since the release of hapless coach Paulin Bordeleau. In the three games since Bordeleau’s departure, Hannover has outscored its opponents 15-2.
Ingolstadt closing in on Frankfurt Captain Jason Young scored two goals as expansion team ERC Ingolstadt made a giant leap towards avoiding the looming relegation series with a 4-0 (2-0, 1-0, 1-0) blanking of struggling competitor Frankfurt Lions. With three games remaining, Ingolstadt (13th) trails Frankfurt (12th) by only two points. The teams in 13th and 14th place (Schwenningen) will have to play a so-called “Playdown Series”, the loser of this best-of-seven series will be relegated to Division-2. Just 42 seconds into the tilt, Sean Tallaire set the tone with the first goal of the night. Hot winger Shayne Toporowski, who also had two assists, doubled the lead on a powerplay goal midway through the first. Young’s first tally at 7:31 of the middle frame put the game out of reach. His second goal capped the scoring with under four minutes to go in regulation.
Russian netminder Andrej Trefilov recorded his fifth shutout of the season as the Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars defended third place in the standings with a 2-0 blanking of the fifth-place Nürnberg Ice Tigers 2-0 (0-0, 2-0, 0-0). After a scoreless first, Marc Beaucage put the Stars ahead 35 seconds into the second period, knocking home the rebound of Jean-Francois Quintin’s shot. Defenseman Jakub Ficenec doubled the lead with just nine seconds left in the period.
Wings: 14 straight losses and counting…The fourth-place Mannheim Adler continued to struggle. Tallying a goal and an assist, Shawn Carter led the Augsburger Panther to their first-ever DEL road win in Mannheim. The 3-0 (1-0, 0-0, 2-0) defeat marked Mannheim’s third straight loss and the second straight time the team was held without a score. Augsburg’s goalie Magnus Eriksson registered his third shutout of the season.
Gary Shuchuk converted the winning penalty shot as the Krefeld Pinguine edged the last-place Schwenninger Wild Wings on the road, 3-2 (2-0, 0-2, 0-0, 1-0) after shootout. Krefeld jumped out to a 2-0 lead on late first-period powerplay tallies from Bill Bowler and Shuchuk. But led by DEL all-time leading scorer Mike Bullard, Schwenningen put on a second-period rally. The 41-year-old center improved his DEL career total to 506 points with a pair of goals, the second one coming on a two-man advantage late in the middle frame. The shootout loss extended Schwenningen’s current losing streak to 14 games – just two shy of a new DEL record.
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