Munich, Germany - The slumping Hannover Scorpions suffered their sixth straight loss Friday and will have to battle the last-place Freiburg Wölfe in the so-called “Play-down” series at the end of the regular season. Elsewhere in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) Friday, Augsburg’s slim playoff hopes suffered a severe blow when the team came up a goal short against the Nürnberg Ice Tigers. In Frankfurt, the meeting between the league’s top two teams turned into a wild shootout.

Matt Higgins had a goal and two assists as the Iserlohn Roosters edged the Hannover Scorpions 3-2 (2-1, 0-1, 1-0) at Hanover’s Preussag Arena. While the Roosters secured another year in the DEL, Hanover has to battle Freiburg in a best-of-seven series, with the loser being relegated to Division-2.

Düsseldorf closing in on final playoff berth

Only one playoff spot is still up for grabs. The Kölner Haie secured a berth by snapping Ingolstadt’s impressive 13-game home win streak. Despite losses, the Mannheim Adler and second-year team ERC Ingolstadt also clinched.

The DEG Metro Stars need only four out of 12 possible points out of their four remaining games to get the final berth. Daniel Kreutzer scored a hat trick as the Stars crushed Freiburg 5-1 (1-0, 3-1, 1-0) at Düsseldorf’s Brehmstrasse Arena.

Chabot, Nürnberg stop Augsburg

Düsseldorf’s only competitor suffered a severe blow. Two goals by Rick Girard were not enough as the Augsburger Panther lost a must-win game to the Nürnberg Ice Tigers, 3-2 (0-0, 2-0, 1-2). Augsburg dominated the game from the opening face-off, but was denied again and again by outstanding Tigers netminder Frederic Chabot, who had 28 saves on the night. Nuremberg went up 3-0 before Girard’s first goal started a dramatic, yet unsuccessful rally by the Panthers. The Ice Tigers took a 1-0 lead midway through the second when Thomas Greilinger capped an odd-man rush with Greg Leeb, beating Magnus Eriksson with a bad-angle shot over the glove-side shoulder. Martin Jiranek went top shelf with a wrister from the slot to double Nuremberg’s lead five minutes later. Robert Tomik scored off the rebound of a shot from Petr Fical on the power-play to make it 3-0 at 8:08 of the final stanza. Just a minute later, a stunning solo effort from Rick Girard gave the Panthers new life. He skated coast-to-coast and beat Chabot through the five-hole to put Augsburg on the scoreboard with 10:30 to go. Girard struck again at 14:46, tucking home the rebound after John Miner’s blueline blast on the power-play. Nuremberg managed to protect the one-goal lead though, virtually putting an end to Augsburg’s playoff hopes.

Martin Reichel scores twice as Frankfurt wins see-saw game over Berlin

Dwayne Norris converted the game-winning penalty shot as the Frankfurt Lions avoided a season sweep at the hands of the Berlin Eisbären with a 6-5 (1-2, 4-1, 0-2, 1-0) home win. The meeting between the league’s top-two teams turned into a wild see-saw game. Berlin dominated the early going and was up 3-1 before Frankfurt turned the momentum with four straight second-period tallies. The Lions’ 5-3 lead did not last, though, as the “Polar Bears” responded with a third-period rally. A short-handed goal by Steve Walker 16 seconds from the buzzer forced the game into the penalty shootout.

Berlin drew first blood when defenseman Darryl Shannon went top shelf on Ian Gordon from the goal mouth 7:15 into the contest. The Eisbären doubled the lead on Rob Shearer’s power-play goal at 12:58. Frankfurt managed to respond before the end of the fist intermission. Martin Reichel cut the lead in half when he re-directed a pass by Dwayne Norris past Oliver Jonas. The Lions suffered another setback when netminder Gordon mishandled Micki DuPont’s wrister from the right point despite clear vision, giving Berlin a 3-1 lead six minutes into the middle frame. A power-play tally got the Lions back into it. Norris knocked a bad-angle shot from the left slot through Jonas’ legs to make it 3-2 at 9:01 of the second. Just two minutes later, Markus Jocher scored on a wrap-around to knot the game at 3-3. Another minute later, David Sulkovsky sped down the right wing, pulled to the net and centered the puck to David Gosselin who tucked it home to give the Lions their first lead of the night with 7:02 left in the second. Martin Reichel’s power-play goal, a screened slap shot from the left point, made it 5-3. Berlin started to smell comeback when youngster Andre Rankel scored from the doorstep midway through the third. Down a man, Eisbären head coach Pierre Pagé pulled Jonas for the extra attacker to make it 5-on-5, and got rewarded. After a long outlet pass, Steve Walker capped a nice tic-tac-toe passing play with Dave Roberts to tie the game at 5-5 with only 16 seconds to go.

Ingolstadt’s 13-game home win streak ends

Andreas Morczinietz scored the only goal of the game and Chris Rogles made 30 saves for his fifth shutout of the season as the Kölner Haie ended ERC Ingolstadt’s impressive 13-game home win streak with a 1-0 (0-0, 0-0, 1-0) victory at Saturn Arena. Morczinietz took a bounce pass off the boards from Jeff Dessner and with a defenseman all over him, beat Jimmy Waite with a high shot over the goalie’s near shoulder.

Shutouts for Künast and Seliger

After no scoring in regulation, Bobby House notched the game-winning goal in the shootout as the Hamburg Freezers downed the Mannheim Adler 1-0 (0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0). Both goalies recorded shutouts. It was the first of the season for Mannheim’s Marc Seliger, who turned aside 29 shots. Hamburg’s Christian Künast made 19 saves for his second shutout.

Guillet scores hat trick, leads Pens past Huskies

Rob Guillet led the way with a hat trick as the Krefeld Pinguine skated past the Kassel Huskies, 5-2 (1-1, 1-1, 3-0).