Munich, Germany - Defender John Miner drilled home a one-timer from the slot to put the Augsburger Panther back into the DEL playoff race with a last-minute win over the Krefeld Pinguine Friday night. While the Nürnberg Ice Tigers became the fourth team to wrap up a playoff berth with a close win over Hamburg, ERC Ingolstadt needs just one more point to clinch after its 13th straight home win.

Augsburg snaps 5-game losing streak

John Miner scored with 31 seconds to go to lift the Augsburger Panther to a 5-4 (2-3, 2-0, 1-1) road win over the Krefeld Pinguine. The game-winning goal came just 3 seconds after a penalty to Krefeld’s Justin Kurtz expired. Augsburg’s Francois Fortier opened the scoring just 10 seconds into the contest. He scored on a wrap-around after Penguins defender Chris Luongo turned over the puck at his own blueline after the opening face-off. Krefeld responded with a pair of goals. Rob Guillet scored from the doorstep after Marc Beaucage’s feed from behind-the-net on the man advantage at 4:20. Three minutes later, Beaucage fired a high wrister past Panthers netminder Magnus Eriksson to make it 2-1 in favor of the hosts. Rick Girard’s power-play tally tied the contest at two apiece, but Guillet converted a bad-angle shot for his second goal of the night to give Krefeld a 3-2 advantage at the first intermission. Augsburg took control of the game in the middle frame and reclaimed a 4-3 lead on back-to-back power-play goals from Marc Savard and Shawn Carter. The Penguins fought back hard and evened the score at 4-4 with their only power-play tally of the night when Kurtz connected on a wrister midway through the final stanza.

Ingolstadt wins 13th straight at home

The road win puts Augsburg back in playoff contention. The Panthers trail the 8th-place DEG Metro Stars by only three points. The Metro Stars lost on the road to ERC Ingolstadt, 4-2.

Günter Oswald and Craig Ferguson each had a goal and an assist as ERC Ingolstadt rallied from a 2-1 deficit and avoided a season sweep against Düsseldorf, skating to a 4-2 (2-2, 0-0, 2-0) home victory. Oswald fired a low shot past Metro Stars netminder Alex Jung on an odd-man rush with Ferguson to give Ingolstadt a 3-2 lead at 7:19 of the third. Ferguson put the game away four minutes later, scoring on the rebound of a blast by Ken Sutton from the neutral zone.

Nuremberg clinches

The Nuremberg Ice Tigers became the fourth team to clinch a spot in the DEL playoffs. Robert Tomik scored a pair of goals as the Tigers edged out the Hamburg Freezers at Arena Nürnberg, 2-1 (1-0, 0-0, 1-1). Nuremberg didn’t waste much time early on. Tomik tucked home his own rebound to put the Tigers on the scoreboard 1:15 into the contest. While the Freezers failed to take advantage of their chances, including a 30-second two-man advantage in the middle frame, Nuremberg doubled its lead on a 5-on-3 opportunity of their own when Tomik netted his second goal of the night early in the third. Bobby House put Hamburg on the scoreboard with a power-play tally midway through the period, but Nuremberg managed to protect the one-goal lead.

Frankfurt ends losing streak with rout
Defenseman Peter Ratchuk led the way with a hat trick as the Frankfurt Lions ended their three-game losing streak with a blow-out win over the hapless Freiburg Wölfe. Ian Gordon made saves for his third shutout as Frankfurt won 7-0 (2-0, 3-0, 2-0). Paul Stanton, Dan Peters, David Sulkovsky and Pat Lebeau also scored for the Lions.

Wins for Berlin and Mannheim

The Berlin Eisbären squandered a 2-0 lead but still came away with two points. Yvon Corriveau converted the only attempt in the penalty shootout as the “Polar Bears” prevailed 3-2 over the Iserlohn Roosters (1-0, 1-2, 0-0, 1-0) on the road. Corriveau actually fanned on the puck but managed to slip the puck past Roosters goalie Michael Fountain for the game winner. Berlin was up 2-0 early in the second after goals by David Roberts and Marc Beaufait (short-handed), but Iserlohn battled back and tied the score at 2-2 at the second intermission on tallies from Scott King and Bryan Adams (power-play).

The Mannheim Adler handed the Hannover Scorpions their sixth loss in a row, winning 4-1 (2-1, 0-0, 2-0) at Hanover’s Preussag Arena. Niko Pyka (power-play), Robert Hock, Todd Hlushko and Steve Junker scored for the Eagles while Matthias Lööf netted the only goal for the Scorpions.