Munich, Germany - The Berlin Eisbären are just one win away from their fifth trip to the DEL Semifinals. Oliver Jonas earned a 24-save shutout as the league’s top-seed took a commanding 3-0 series lead against the DEG Metro Stars. Ian Gordon kept the door shut for the second straight time, helping the Frankfurt Lions take a 2-1 lead over the Kölner Haie. The Mannheim Adler and ERC Ingolstadt are back in their respective series after road wins Sunday.

Lions take 2-1 lead over Haie

Former Haie players Dwayne Norris and Jason Young both tallied a goal and Ian Gordon stopped 23 shots for his second straight shutout as the 5th-seeded Frankfurt Lions stunned the 4th-seeded Kölner Haie 3-0 (1-0, 1-0, 1-0), taking a 2-1 lead in the first-round best-of-seven series.

14,475 at KölnArena saw Frankfurt’s aggressive fore-checking pay off right away. Norris received Pat Lebeau’s feed from behind the net and rifled the puck past Chris Rogles for the 1-0 lead just 3:36 into the contest. Jason Young sped down the left wing and dropped the puck to David Gosselin, who ripped a high shot over Rogles’ left shoulder to make it 2-0. Young put the game away at 3-0 with an unassisted goal midway through the third. Haie defenseman Brad Schlegel turned over the puck in the neutral zone and Young cut in 1-on-0 on Rogles, beating the Haie goalie with a high shot over the glove hand.

“They beat us with our own weapons tonight”, said Haie coach Hans Zach. “They deployed a great defensive trap and executed ice-cold counterattacks.”

The Lions have kept the Haie scoreless for 151 minutes, since Mirko Lüdemann’s game-winner midway through the second period in Game 1.

Ingolstadt edges Nuremberg, cuts series lead in half

7th-seeded ERC Ingolstadt bounced back from an early deficit to down the 2nd-seeded Nürnberg Ice Tigers 3-2 (3-1, 0-0, 0-1) in front of 7,887 at Arena Nürnberg. Nuremberg leads the best-of-seven series 2-1.

As in the previous two games, the Ice Tigers drew first blood. Vitalij Aab drew the attention of two defenders near the left boards. He played a nifty drop pass and Greg Leeb beat Jimmy Waite on the breakaway to make it 1-0 in favor of the Ice Tigers just 94 seconds into the tilt.
Ingolstadt responded with back-to-back goals only 41 seconds apart. Ice Tigers goaltender Frederic Chabot mishandled a Justin Harney blast from the neutral zone. The puck bounced right to the charging Thomas Schinko who buried the rebound to tie the game at one. Ingolstadt went up 2-1 at the 6:38-mark when a wrist shot from defenseman Yves Racine found its way past the screened Chabot. Nuremberg even conceded a third goal when ERC defender Phil von Stefenelli scored on a wrap-around with only 55 seconds left in the opening stanza.

Backup Alfie Michaud replaced Chabot, who gave up three goals on nine shots, at the beginning of the second. Nuremberg fought its way back into the game and cut Ingolstadt’s lead in half when Thomas Greilinger went top-shelf on the man advantage 2:42 into the final period. Ingolstadt managed to defend the 3-2 lead with poised defensive play and Jimmy Waite’s goaltending.

Berlin aiming for sweep

Oliver Jonas made 24 saves and Steve Walker scored his third goal of the playoffs as the top-seeded Berlin Eisbären blanked the 8th-seeded DEG Metro Stars 3-0 (2-0, 0-0, 1-0) to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series. Pierre Pagé’s team can sweep the first-round series with a road win Tuesday night.

With a capacity crowd of 4,695 on hand at Berlin’s Wellblechpalast, Walker opened the scoring 5:24 into the contest, capping a short-handed odd-man rush with Rob Shearer. The “Polar Bears” doubled the lead with 6:06 left in the first when Denis Pederson connected on a high wrister on the man-advantage. The lead enabled Berlin to sit back and wait for counterattacks. Mark Beaufait capped the scoring at 3-0 midway through the final stanza.

Click here to watch video highlights of Game 3 between Berlin and Düsseldorf courtesy of RBB (Real Player)

Seliger ices Freezers

Marc Seliger made 26 saves for his first shutout and Mike Kennedy had a goal and an assist as the Mannheim Adler blanked the Hamburg Freezers 3-0 (0-0, 1-0, 2-0) on the road, cutting Hamburg’s series lead to 2-1.

The Freezers dominated the early going in front of a sell-out crowd of 12,759 at Hamburg’s Color Line Arena, but hurt themselves with sloppy and tired play as the game went on. Mannheim caught a lucky break when a shot from Freezers defender Dan Lambert rang off the framework late in the first. The “Eagles” took a 1-0 lead 57 seconds into the middle frame. Mike Kennedy intercepted an ill-fated outlet pass from Wayne Hynes and centered the puck to Devin Edgerton who beat Boris Rousson with a low shot from the slot. Capitalizing off another turnover, Christoph Ullmann doubled the lead with under six minutes left in the second on a nice solo effort. A goal by Kennedy with 1:11 left in the third capped the scoring at 3-0.

Click here to watch video highlights of Game 3 between Hamburg and Mannheim courtesy of NDR (Real Player)

Relegation: Hanover back in front after Haas’ OT GWG

David Haas scored at 11:06 of the first overtime to give the Hannover Scorpions a 2-1 (1-0, 0-0, 0-1, 1-0) home win and a 2-1 lead over the Freiburg Wölfe in the best-of-seven relegation series. With Freiburg’s Dusan Frosch in the sin bin, Haas lifted a hard backhander over Wölfe netminder Hugo Haas. With 3,639 in attendance at Preussag Arena, Zdenek Nedved gave Hanover a 1-0 lead on a solo effort midway through the first. Dany Bousquet’s goal with 6:06 left sent the tilt into OT.