Munich, Germany - The first-place Berlin Eisbären and fifth-place ERC Ingolstadt picked up where they left off before the DEL All-Star Break. Ingolstadt stunned the second-place Frankfurt Lions while Berlin ended Hanover’s four-game home win streak as the Deutsche Eishockey Liga entered the final three weeks of the regular season Thursday.

Frankfurt five points behind Berlin

Günter Oswald and Craig Ferguson both had a goal and an assist and Leo Conti turned aside 24 shots in only his second start of the season as ERC Ingolstadt dumped the Frankfurt Lions 4-1 (1-0, 2-0, 1-1), extending its current win streak to seven games. Ingolstadt has also won 12 straight at home.

After wasting a couple of power-play opportunities early on, Ingolstadt took a 1-0 lead with 4:10 to go in the first when defenseman Brad Burym ripped a bad-angle shot high past Ian Gordon's glove hand. They doubled their lead to 2-0 89 seconds into the middle frame when Oswald intercepted the puck in the neutral zone and sent Craig Ferguson on a breakaway who beat Gordon to the glove hand side again. Cameron Mann’s power-play goal from the low left slot made it 3-0 midway through the second. Frankfurt seemed to regain some momentum when Pat Lebeau set up Jesse Belanger near the goalmouth on the man advantage. Belanger made a nice effort, stopping the puck with his skate and knocking it into the wide-open net to cut Ingolstadt’s lead to 3-1 3:49 into the final stanza. The Lions’ hopes of a comeback were quickly squashed though. On a delayed penalty call, Oswald launched a missile from the left slot and hammered the puck under the crossbar to put the game out of reach at 4-1 with 13:54 left.

Eisbären one win away from playoff berth

The Berlin Eisbären also looked confident in their first game in nearly three weeks, thrashing the Hannover Scorpions 5-1 (1-0, 3-0, 1-1) on the road. Berlin extended recorded its fifth straight win despite being outshot 44-30. After taking a 1-0 lead on Steve Walker’s goal late in the opening stanza, the “Polar Bears” put the game out of reach with three more tallies in the second period. David Roberts, playing in his first game since a mid-December concussion, and Kelly Fairchild scored on the man advantage. Even-strength tallies by Mark Beaufait late in the second and by Brad Bergen early in the third gave Berlin a 5-0 lead. Hanover’s Edvyn Frylén spoiled Rich Parent’s shutout bid with just under 12 minutes to go.

Podollan lifts Mannheim to big win in playoff race

On Friday, Jason Podollan’s hat trick lifted the Mannheim Adler to a 3-1 (0-0, 1-0, 2-1) home victory over the DEG Metro Stars. Rene Corbet also had a three-point night, assisting on each of Podollan’s tallies. Alexander Sulzer’s power-play goal at 17:23 of the third came way too late to spark a Düsseldorf comeback.

The 9th-place Augsburger Panther failed to take advantage of the Metro Stars’ loss and remain three points behind 8th-place Düsseldorf, which also has two games in hand. Ted Drury and Tobias Abstreiter both scored two points as the Kassel Huskies downed Augsburg 3-1 (2-0, 0-1, 1-0). Kassel set the tone early on. Drury tallied on the first shot of the game, giving the Huskies a 1-0 lead just 20 seconds into the contest. Thomas Daffner’s score at 5:56 of the opening stanza turned out to be the game-winner. The other scorers were Stephan Retzer for the Huskies and Marc Savard, who notched Augsburg’s only goal early in the second.

Alexander Selivanov scored a pair of power-play goals and an assist as the Krefeld Pinguine cruised to a 4-0 (2-0, 1-0, 1-0) home win over the last-place Freiburg Wölfe. Chris Herperger had three assists on the night. Robert Müller made 19 saves for his fifth shutout of the season.