Munich, Germany - The temperatures in Germany are below freezing, but the cushion of the two teams on top of the DEL table keeps melting away. While the first-place Berlin Eisbären were upset on home ice by the hot Augsburger Panther on Boxing Day, the second-place Frankfurt Lions got spanked by the Mannheim Adler on the road. In other Friday action in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, Jimmy Waite backstopped ERC Ingolstadt to its 14th win in 16 games.

Berlin (21-11/64 points) remains in the number one spot, two points ahead of Frankfurt (21-12/62). The third-place Kölner Haie, who improved to 18-16/59 with a win over the Hannover Scorpions, are only three points or one win behind the Lions.

The playoff hopes of the tenth-place Kassel Huskies (15-17/42) were dealt a severe blow as they were edged by the ninth-place DEG Metro Stars (18-14/52) on the road. While Kassel is already 12 points away from the playoff ranks, the Metro Stars are only two points behind ERC Ingolstadt (18-13/54) which currently holds the final berth.

Mannheim spanks Frankfurt

Devin Edgerton scored two goals and an assist as the fourth-place Mannheim Adler crushed the second-place Frankfurt Lions 5-1 (1-0, 3-0, 1-1) on home ice. The Adler fired 45 shots at Ian Gordon’s net while holding Frankfurt’s league-leading offense to only 18 shots. The Lions’ lack of discipline helped. Mannheim had a total of 15 power-play opportunities. Adler forward Tomas Martinec had to be helped off the ice early in the second after Gordon took a monster swing and hit him in the back of his leg with his goalie stick. Martinec returned later on. Referee Heiko Dahle penalized the wrong guy, though, ejecting bystander Christian Kohmann with a slashing major plus game misconduct.

Edgerton, who played for the Lions in 1999-2000, put Mannheim up 2-0 with back-to-back power-play goals within a 45-second span just before and after the first intermission. They added on to the lead with a pair of goals late in the middle frame. Robert Hock and Christoph Ullmann scored 60 seconds apart to double the Adler lead to 4-0 after 40 minutes. With Mannheim on the man advantage, Martinec was denied by Gordon and Hock scored off the rebound. A minute later, Ullmann capped an odd-man rush with Fabio Carciola. Pat Lebeau’s power-play goal gave the Lions a little hope early in the third, but the Adler put the game away at the 7:32-mark. Edgerton skated into the Lions zone, faked a slap shot and passed the puck to the wide-open Rene Corbet who knocked it home from the goalmouth to cap the scoring at 5-1.

Carter leads comeback as Augsburg shocks Berlin

Shawn Carter scored back-to-back goals in the third period as the Augsburger Panther rallied from a 3-1 deficit to upset the Berlin Eisbären on the road, 4-3 (1-2, 1-1, 2-0). Colin Beardsmore, who also had two assists on the night, gave Augsburg a 1-0 lead on the game’s first power-play. But Berlin responded with power-play tallies by Kelly Fairchild and Alexander Barta. Defenseman Micki DuPont scored his second goal in as many games as Berlin extended its lead to 3-1 at 6:22 of the middle frame. The only two penalties in the final 30 minutes of the game helped the Panther, who outshot the Eisbären 34-19 over three periods, turn the game around. Augsburg cashed in on both power-play opportunities, tying the score at 3-3 on goals by Xavier Delisle and Carter.

An individual mistake led to Carters’ game-winning goal, six minutes after the 3-3 equalizer. Eisbären forward Florian Keller played an ill-fated pass that was intercepted by Beardsmore at the Panther blueline. Beardsmore passed the puck to Carter who beat Oliver Jonas on the breakaway to make it 4-3 at 8:54 of the third.

Lüdemann strikes twice, lifts Cologne to victory

Defenseman Mirko Lüdemann scored a pair of late power-play goals to lift the Kölner Haie to a 4-2 (1-1, 2-1, 1-0) road victory over the Hannover Scorpions. Dave McLlwain had three assists on the night.

Waite, Ingolstadt shut out Iserlohn

Jimmy Waite stopped 21 shots for his fifth shutout of the season as ERC Ingolstadt blanked the Iserlohn Roosters on the road, 3-0 (1-0, 0-0, 2-0). Former Rooster Doug Ast and Cameron Mann each scored two points. Ast opened the scoring just 62 seconds into the contest. Ingolstadt dominated the game, but it took them until the final minutes to finally put the game away. Sean Tallaire notched a goal with 3:52 left in the third and defenseman Ken Sutton added an empty-net goal 2 seconds before the buzzer to seal the win.

Hamburg downs Freiburg

Brad Purdie and Dave Tomlinson both scored a goal and an assist as the Hamburg Freezers downed the Freiburg Wölfe 3-1 (1-0, 1-1, 1-0). Freezers defenseman Darren Van Impe opened the scoring with a power-play goal late in the first period. Hamburg doubled the lead when Purdie tallied five minutes into the third. Oliver Coqueux put the Wolves on the scoreboard midway through the middle frame. Freiburg came close to tying the score before Tomlinson put the game away with less than eight minutes left.

Düsseldorf keeps Kassel at bay

Marcus Thuresson and Matthias Hart scored as the DEG Metro Stars held off the Kassel Huskies, 2-1 (1-0, 0-0, 1-1). Jeff MacLeod notched Kassel’s only goal with just over a minute to go.