Munich, Germany - Defending DEL champion Krefeld Pinguine remains on fire. Chris Herperger tallied a pair of goals as Butch Goring’s team recorded its fifth straight victory in a rematch of last year’s DEL final against the Kölner Haie Friday night. Elsewhere, Jason Young scored his second consecutive game-winner as the Frankfurt Lions edged the Kassel Huskies.

The Berlin Eisbären, who snapped a two-game winless streak, remain in a first-place tie in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with the Lions. Both teams will face each other in Frankfurt’s Eissportstadion Saturday night. The Nürnberg Ice Tigers moved into third place after routing the Hannover Scorpions at home.

Herperger strikes twice, Ustorf adds assist in Krefeld win

Chris Herperger tallied a pair of goals and an assist as the Krefeld Pinguine extended their win streak to five games with a 5-3 (1-1, 2-1, 2-1) road win over the Kölner Haie. Newly-signed Stefan Ustorf recorded an assist in his debut with the Pinguine.

The Haie started out strong, but it was Krefeld that drew first blood on Marc Beaucage’s goal 5:31 into the contest. Cologne evened the score on a late first-period power-play goal from Kai Hospelt, who ripped a screened shot past Pinguine goalie Robert Müller. The Haie continued to dominate in the second period, out-shooting Krefeld 18-5 in the middle frame. However it was the Pinguine that took full advantage of their few scoring opportunities. Krefeld took a 2-1 lead at 12:24 of the second when Herperger deflected a shot from Justin Kurtz past Haie goalie Chris Rogles on the man advantage. Chris Kelleher doubled the lead only three minutes later, knocking a low shot past Rogles. With just over four minutes left in the second, Alex Hicks brought Cologne back within one, re-directing a slapshot by Mirco Lüdemann past Müller on the power-play.

Both teams failed to take advantage of power-play opportunities early in the third. Krefeld regained momentum on a lucky goal 5:49 into the final frame. Pascal Appel stepped out of the penalty box, received a pass from Terry Yake and stunned Rogles with a blueline blast to extend Krefeld’s lead to 4-2. Herperger put the game away with a short-handed empty-netter in the final minute of play. The Haie got a late consolation goal when Dave McLlwain scored on the power-play with six seconds to go.

Eisbären break out of scoring funk

The Berlin Eisbären broke out of their scoring funk with a 5-2 (1-2, 4-0, 0-0) home victory over the Düsseldorfer EG Metro Stars. Trailing 2-1 after twenty minutes, the Eisbären turned the game around on four unanswered second-period goals, including two on the man advantage, to snap a two-game losing streak. Berlin’s Marc Beaufait opened the scoring on a shorthanded breakaway 7:22 into the contest. Tallies from Clayton Young (power-play) and Florian Jung gave Düsseldorf a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.

Berlin tied the score at 2-2 1:50 into the middle frame when Rob Shearer deflected a shot by David Roberts past DEG netminder Alexander Jung. Just three minutes later, defenseman Keith Aldridge ripped a slap shot past Jung to give the Eisbären a 3-2 lead. Aldridge stepped up again on the two-man advantage when his feed from the point found Steve Walker near the goalmouth to make it 4-2. The Metro Stars then failed to take advantage of a 5-on-3 advantage of their own. Defenseman Darryl Shannon capped the scoring at 5-2, knocking home the rebound on an odd-man rush with Walker with under three minutes left in the second period.

Frankfurt wins on Young’s 2nd straight GWG

After squandering a 5-2 lead, Jason Young scored his second straight game-winning goal with 1:55 left in regulation and Dwayne Norris added an empty-netter as the Frankfurt Lions downed the Kassel Huskies after a wild game, 7-5 (2-0, 3-2, 2-3) on the road. Norris scored a hat trick and also had an assist, Lions defender Paul Stanton recorded three assists.

Frankfurt seemed in control after back-to-back tallies from Norris gave them a three-goal lead heading into the second intermission. But a tally from defenseman Ted Crowley on a 5-on-3 power-play opportunity early in third sparked a Husky rally. Mikael Wahlberg added a pair of goals, including the 5-5 equalizer on the power-play with 2:58 to go. But Young saved the day for the Lions, one-timing the puck over Joaquin Gage’s shoulder from the left slot after a behind-the-net feed from Pat Lebeau.

Iserlohn wins 2nd straight, snaps Mannheim’s win streak

Second-string goaltender Dimitrij Kotschnew turned aside 27 shots and defenseman Chris Bartolone recorded two assists as the Iserlohn Roosters edged the Mannheim Adler at home, 2-1 (2-1, 0-0, 0-0), ending Mannheim’s three-game win streak. Lars Brüggemann’s scored the game-winner with four seconds left in the opening period. Just two seconds after the Adler killed off a two-man advantage, a shot from Bartolone rang off the goalpost and Brüggemann buried the rebound.

Augsburg skates past Freiburg, Nürnberg thrashes Hanover

Bob Wren and Björn Barta each scored a goal and an assist as the Augsburger Panther skated to a 5-3 (2-1, 1-1, 2-1) road win over the Freiburg Wölfe.

Thomas Greilinger notched a pair of goals and Marian Cisaar posted a goal and three assists as the Nürnberg Ice Tigers routed the visiting Hannover Scorpions 8-2 (3-0, 4-1, 1-1), extending Hanover’s winless skid to eight games.