Munich, Germany - A lucky road win in Krefeld moved the Frankfurt Lions into a first-place tie in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) Sunday night. The Berlin Eisbären put on a rally, but were downed by Mannheim. Elsewhere, Nuremberg and Hamburg had their win streaks ended and failed to close the gap to the league’s top-two teams.

Corbet scores twice as Mannheim holds off Berlin

Rene Corbet scored the only goal in the penalty shootout as the Mannheim Adler held off the Berlin Eisbären 4-3 (2-0, 1-1, 1-2, 1-0) at Friedrichspark Arena. Mannheim had a 3-1 lead halfway through the middle frame, but Berlin rallied to force the shootout.

The Adler dominated the first period and had a well-deserved 2-0 lead at the first intermission.. Corbet opened the scoring on the first power-play of the game, blasting a one-timer past Rich Parent at the 5:22-mark. Mannheim doubled the lead with 2:12 left in the opening frame when Klaus Kathan hammered home a shot from the right wing. Berlin came out swarming at the start of period 2. They cut Mannheim’s lead to 2-1 when defenseman Micki DuPont rifled a blue line blast past Richards Shulmistra on the power-play 5:43 into the middle frame. It did not take long for the Adler to regain a two-goal lead. Mike Kennedy scored on a rare 3-on-3 rush with Steve Junker and Francois Groleau to make it 3-1 at 10:43. Red-hot Alexander Barta brought the Eisbären within one with his fifth tally in six games. Capitalizing on a turnover by Adler Christoph Ullmann, Barta went top-shelf on Shulmistra 1:57 before the second intermission. The final goal in regulation was scored just 14 seconds into the third. Defenseman Rob Leask scored on the breakaway to knot the score at 3-3.

Gordon backstops Frankfurt to win over Krefeld

League-leading scorer Pat Lebeau tallied a pair of goals and an assist as the Frankfurt Lions downed the injury-depleted Krefeld Pinguine on the road, 3-2 (0-1, 1-0, 2-1). Ian Gordon put on a goaltending clinic, turning aside 38 shots, including a number of big saves in the waning minutes.

“We don't want to get too euphoric about it”, said Lions head coach Rich Chernomaz. “It was a rather lucky win.”

Berlin and Frankfurt are tied on top of the standings with 71 points each. The Eisbären still have a game in hand and also own the better goal differential (+33 vs. +20).

DEG ends Nuremberg’s win streak

The Nürnberg Ice Tigers had a five-game win streak snapped by the DEG Metro Stars, but managed to hold on to third place in the standings. Trond Magnussen led the way with a goal and two assists as Düsseldorf scored three unanswered goals in the final 26 minutes to come from behind and win 6-4 (2-1, 2-3, 2-0) on the road. Young defenseman Alexander Sulzer scored the game-tying goal on a 5-on-3 power-play with just under six minutes to go in the middle frame. Swede Johan Molin beat Frederic Chabot on the breakaway for the eventual game-winner at 3:51 of the final period. Nuremberg came close to tying the score again, but shots by Steve Larouche and Martin Jiranek rang off the framework. Magnussen sealed Düsseldorf’s win with an empty-netter five seconds before the buzzer.

Kauhanen, Hanover snap Hamburg’s win streak

The Hannover Scorpions ended a five-game losing streak with a 3-0 (1-0, 2-0, 0-0) home win over the Hamburg Freezers, who had their six-game winning streak snapped. Finnish goaltender Ilpo Kauhanen turned aside 28 shots for his second shutout of the season. Lorenz Funk Jr. started the scoring with a short-handed goal, tucking home the rebound of a shot by Thomas Dolak 7:17 into the opening frame. Len Soccio skated into the Freezers zone and ripped a low wrist shot past netminder Christian Künast to double the Scorps’ lead to 2-0 at 1:53 of the second. Coming out of the penalty box, Matthias Lööf scored on the breakaway to make it 3-0 at 11:52 of the middle frame, blasting a slapshot from the right face-off circle over Künast’s right shoulder.

Haie gun down Roosters

Alex Hicks tallied five points as the Kölner Haie snapped a three-game losing streak with a 7-1 (1-1, 3-0, 3-0) rout of the Iserlohn Roosters. Hicks had three goals on the night, including a power-play tally and a short-hander. Dave McLlwain and Jeremy Adduono contributed three points each. Leo Stefan, who was acquired from Freiburg, had a goal and an assist in his first game for the Haie.

Ingolstadt wins derby versus Augsburg

Glen Goodall converted the game-winning penalty shot as ERC Ingolstadt edged the Augsburger Panther 2-1 (1-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0). Augsburg drew first blood when Colin Beardsmore scored on the power-play midway through the first. Sean Tallaire tallied the equalizer with 2:05 left in the opening frame, deflecting Chad Allen’s point shot past Magnus Eriksson. Good goaltending kept the score knotted at one apiece until the end of regulation.

Bousquet’s two tallies not enough as Freiburg is edged by Kassel

A strong second-period effort was enough for the Kassel Huskies to keep the Freiburg Wölfe at bay. Paul Brousseau led the way with a power-play goal and an assist as the Huskies notched five second-period goals to win 5-4 (0-2, 5-0, 0-2) and hand the Wolves their 16th straight road loss. Freiburg’s Dany Bousquet, tied with Dave McLlwain for the DEL goal scoring lead with 21, tallied two goals and an assist. Rhavil Khaydarov also had three points (1G, 2A).