Munich, Germany - Like last year, the Berlin Eisbären find themselves on top of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) at the February break. With the DEL heading into a two-week hiatus for the seventh annual All-Star Game and international action, Berlin’s toughest rival, the Frankfurt Lions, got thumped by the Nürnberg Ice Tigers. Elsewhere in the DEL on Friday, ERC Ingolstadt and the DEG Metro Stars recorded important wins in the playoff race while Augsburg could not end its recent slump.

The Frankfurt Lions squandered the chance to knock the idle Berlin Eisbären out of first place. Thomas Greilinger and Yan Stastny both had a pair of goals and an assist as the Nürnberg Ice Tigers routed the Lions 7-3 (1-1, 3-0, 3-2) at NürnbergArena. The victory lifted Nuremberg into the third place.

Cameron Mann scored the only goal of the night at 5:34 of the third and Jimmy Waite stopped 20 shots for his league-leading eight shutout as ERC Ingolstadt blanked the Krefeld Pinguine 1-0 (0-0, 0-0, 1-0) at SaturnArena.

Goals from Christian Brittig and Clayton Young lifted the DEG Metro Stars to a 2-0 (0-0, 1-0, 1-0) road win over the Iserlohn Roosters. Andrej Trefilov turned aside 27 shots for his first shutout of the season.

While the Metro Stars moved into eight place, the Augsburger Panther slipped out of the playoff ranks after a road loss at KölnArena. Eduard Lewandowski led the way with a pair of goals as the Kölner Haie downed Augsburg 4-2 (2-1, 1-0, 1-1). The Panthers have lost five of their last six and three in a row.

Hanover recorded important points in the battle against relegation. Patrik Augusta tallied two goals and two assists as the Hannover Scorpions crushed the Kassel Huskies 6-2 (1-1, 3-1, 2-0) at PreussagArena, spoiling the debut of Kassel’s new head coach Mike McParland.

Robert Hock scored a hat trick as the Mannheim Adler thrashed the last-place Freiburg Wölfe 7-2 (1-1, 4-1, 2-0) at Friedrichspark-Arena. Defenseman Francois Groleau (1G, 3A), youngster Christoph Ullmann (2G, 1A), Jason Podollan (1G, 2A), Mike Kennedy and Tomas Martinec (2A each) also had multiple point nights.