Munich, Germany - Marian Cisar scored a pair of goals and an assist as the Nürnberg Ice Tigers climbed to the top of the standings in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with an impressive road win over the Berlin Eisbären Friday. The Hamburg Freezers, who entered gameday 17 as the number one team in the league, got routed in Düsseldorf. Elsewhere, the Mannheim Adler played their first game after the surprising release of Stefan Ustorf and Yves Racine.

Trond Magnussen and defender Jeff Tory each scored two points as the Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars blanked the Hamburg Freezers at home, 4-0 (2-0, 1-0, 1-0). Magnussen fired a low slapshot from between the hashmarks past Hamburg’s Boris Rousson just 1:30 into the tilt – a goal that set the tone for the whole game. Düsseldorf continued to dominate. Daniel Kreutzer went top-shelf on the power-play to double the lead midway through the first. The Stars put the game out of reach with under two minutes to go in the second when Mike Pellegrims found Christian Brittig on the doorstep to make it 3-0. A one-time blast from Tory on the man advantage capped the scoring 6:30 into the final stanza.

Düsseldorf won the game, but lost defender Tommy Jakobsen. Blocking a slapshot, the puck hit him in an unprotected area of his upper body, below the left arm pit. The Norwegian suffered a tear in his lung and swollen spleen, which will keep him sidelined for at least two weeks.

Nuremberg ends Berlin’s streak, climbs to the top

With a solid team effort and efficient fore-checking, the Nürnberg Ice Tigers handed the Berlin Eisbären their first home loss of the season. Tigers goalie Frederic Chabot stopped 24 shots and fell just 93 seconds short of a shutout. David Roberts tallied Berlin’s only goal in a 4-1 (0-0, 3-0, 1-1) loss that ended an eight-game home win streak. 9:10 into the second period, Cisar blasted a behind-the-net feed from Steve Larouche past Eisbären goalie Oliver Jonas for the 1-0 lead. Less than four minutes later, Craig Leeb intercepted an ill-fated pass from Florian Keller in the slot and knocked it home to double Nuremberg’s lead. With under a minute to go in the middle frame, Leeb caused another turnover in the neutral zone and Cisar scored on the breakaway to make it 3-0 at the second intermission. The Tigers scored their fourth goal midway through the third when a shot from Cisar was redirected into the net by teammate Jürgen Rumrich’s skate.

Mannheim continues to struggle

The suspension of captain Stefan Ustorf and Yves Racine had little impact on the Mannheim Adler who could not end their recent skid. Derek Plante notched a pair of goals as the Adler erased a three-goal deficit against the Augsburg Panther. Plante was the tragic hero, though. With the game tied at 4-4 midway through the third period, he committed a turn-over that led to Francois Fortier’s game-winning shorthander. Ausgburg prevailed 6-4 (2-1, 2-2, 2-1).

The Panther drew first blood when Bob Wren ripped a one-timer from the right faceoff circle past Adler netminder Richard Shulmistra on the man advantage at 12:21 of the opening frame. They doubled the lead to 2-0 on another power-play tally when Duanne Moeser, who had three assists on the night, found Ronny Arendt wide-open near the right goal post. Mannheim got on the scoreboard with just over two minutes left in the first. From the left slot, Plante one-timed Devin Edgerton’s feed from behind the net past Panther goalie Magnus Eriksson. Augsburg responded with a pair of goals early in the middle frame. Coming out of the left corner, Wren received a pass from Xavier Delisle, pulled to the net and shovelled the puck past Shulmistra with his backhand to make it 3-1, Augsburg’s third and final power-play tally of the night. Colin Beardsmore extended the lead to 4-1 at the 5:45-mark, knocking home the puck from the left slot after a behind-the net feed from Rick Girard’s pass from behind the net.

Mannheim retaliated just over a minute later. Tomas Martinec cycled behind the Augsburg net and sent the puck out in front. The deflected pass came right to defender Andy Roach who slid it past Eriksson to make it 4-2. With under eight minutes left in the second, Francois Fortier turned the puck over inside his own blueline, Robert Hock cut towards the net and dropped the puck to the trailing Martinec who went top-shelf to cut Augsburg’s lead to a goal. Plante tied the game with his second tally of the night, redirecting a point shot from Devin Edgerton into the net 2:24 into the final period. The Adler seemed in position to cap the comeback when Augsburg’s Eric Dandenault was sent to the sin bin midway through the third. But Fortier was able to make up for his earlier mistake. He intercepted an ill-directed cross-ice pass from Plante right in front of the Adler net and backhanded the puck through Shulmistra’s five-hole for the game-winner with 9:44 to go. An empty-netter by Girard sealed the win.

Frankfurt wins after shootout

Pat Lebeau converted the only penalty shot as the Frankfurt Lions edged the Kölner Haie at home, 3-2 (1-1, 0-1, 1-0, 1-0) after shootout. The game went up and down, with good scoring opportunities at both ends. The Haie drew first blood when Steve Palmer went top-shelf on Lions goalie Ian Gordon 4:30 into the contest. Frankfurt tied it at 1-1 when Jason Young tucked home the rebound of a point blast by Peter Ratchuk on the man advantage midway through the first. Dave McLlwain redirected Brad Schlegel’s shot from the center point past Ian Gordon’s glove hand to give Cologne a 2-1 lead 7:36 into the second period. Ratchuk knocked home the puck from the near left slot to tie the game at two apiece with his tenth goal of the season 74 seconds into the final stanza.

Huskies bite the Roosters

Matthias Trattnig and Alexander Serikow each scored a pair of points as the Kassel Huskies skated past the Iserlohn Roosters at home, 4-1 (0-0, 3-0, 1-1). After a scoreless first, the Huskies struck three times in less than six minutes early in the second. Rob Busch made it 1-0 knocking home the rebound after a blueline blast from defender Ted Crowley for the game’s only power-play tally. Kassel doubled the lead when Trattnig found Stephan Retzer alone near the opposing goal post on a 3-on-2 oddman rush. Trattnig himself extended Kassel’s lead to 3-0. He sped through the neutral zone and rifled a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle over Michael Foutain’s glove hand at 7:41 of the middle frame. A tally from Stephan’s brother Christian Retzer put Kassel up 4-0 early in the third. A late goal from Iserlohn’s Chris Straube denied Joaquin Gage’s shutout bid 2:24 from the final buzzer.

Ingolstadt and Krefeld win

Sean Tallaire had a pair of goals and an assist as ERC Ingolstadt scored three third-period goals to down expansion team Freiburg Wölfe 5-2 (0-1, 2-1, 3-1) on the road. Dany Bousquet notched two goals for Freiburg.

Krefeld Pinguine forward Pascal Appel didn’t have much time to celebrate his game-winning tally in the 3-2 (2-1, 0-1, 1-0) home victory over the Hannover Scorpions. After securing Krefeld’s first win in four games with 5:39 left in regulation, Appel underwent emergency surgery to remove his appendix.