Munich, Germany - Mike Kennedy saved the day for the Munich Barons when he converted the decisive penalty shot to secure a 4-3 (1-1, 2-2, 0-0, 1-0) overtime win over the last-place Berlin Capitals. Center Derek Plante and Mike Smazal both tallied two points in regulation as Canadian netminder Boris Rousson made his first start of the season.

“I’m just glad to be back,” Rousson recapped his individual performance.

“Visiting teams tend to play very defensive-oriented here at Munich,” head coach Sean Simpson added. “We usually face a five-man trap. So we try to dump the puck in deep and get to it. Of course, our game play will suffer from that ‘cause we actually have to work the puck rather than play it.”

Simpson decided to reshuffle his lines after Friday’s loss at Mannheim. Derek Plante joined Derek King and Peter Douris, a line that accounted for two of the Barons’ three scores of the evening.
After a good start, Berlin got the deserved lead seven minutes in when Atvars Tribuncovs deflected a shot by Gordie Hynes past Barons netminder Rousson.

Backed by 2,200 spectators at the Olympia-Eisstadion, Munich managed to score the equalizer before the first intermission. With only 13 seconds left, Mike Smazal dumped the puck at the net. The shot was redirected by Derek Plante and Derek King eventually managed to knock it across the goalline.

Plante gave the Barons their first lead of the evening midway through the game after an error by otherwise strong Caps goalie Andrei Mezin. Mezin had apparently made a save, but Plante quickly realized the puck was still loose and made it 2-1.

Berlin responded immediately, though. Three minutes later, Aleksandrs Kercs tied the game at two apiece with Munich’s Peter Abstreiter serving a bench minor.

Barons defender Jason Herter, back from a meniscus injury, picked up a rebound and blasted it home from close distance to reclaim the lead with seven minutes left in the second.

Caps forward Yvon Corriveau evened the score at 3-3 just before the second intermission.

After a scoreless third, Mike Kennedy came up with the game-winner in the overtime shootout.

Box Score
Munich Barons - Berlin Capitals 4-3 (1-1 2-2 0-0 1-0) after shootout
Goals: 0-1 (7.) Atvars Tribuncovs (Gordie Hynes), 1-1 (20.) Derek King (Derek Plante, Mike Smazal), 2-1 (28.) Derek Plante (Peter Douris, Mike Smazal), 2-2 (31.) Aleksandrs Kercs (Alexander Cherbayev, Vyacheslav Fanduls - 5:4), 3-2 (33.) Jason Herter (Peter Abstreiter, Johan Rosén), 3-3 (39.) Yvon Corriveau (Andrei Vasilyev, Heinz Ehlers). – Shootout Winner: 4-3 Mike Kennedy.
Penalties: Munich 8, Berlin 8.
Attendance: 2,210.