With a sell-out crowd of 4,695 on hand, the Berlin Eisbären jumped out to a 3-1 lead and held on for a 3-2 (2-0, 1-1, 0-1) home win over defending champion Frankfurt Lions. Center Denis Pederson, who was a game-time decision with a stomach virus, gave Berlin a 2-0 lead on a power-play goal ten seconds before the first intermission, tucking home the rebound of a Shawn Heins point shot. He also picked up an assist when Kelly Fairchild re-directed his blast from the top of the left face-off circle past Ian Gordon for the 1-0 lead at 17:32 of the first. Defenseman Heins also recorded a pair of points in his DEL debut. A slightly deflected shot by Francois Bouchard put the Lions on the board on a man advantage early in the middle frame. Berlin reclaimed a two-goal lead with 2:54 left in the second when Gordon mishandled a wrister from Heins and Keller buried the rebound. Frankfurt gained some hope when Pat Lebeau, last year's DEL MVP, went topshelf on Oliver Jonas to cut Berlin's lead to 3-2 at with 7:43 left in the game. A hooking call on Peter Ratchuk and Jonas' goaltending spoiled the rally though.
Newly signed Thomas Greilinger led the way with two power-play goals and two assists as the Mannheim Adler thrashed the injury-riddled Kassel Huskies 6-2 (2-0, 1-0, 3-2) in front of 5,900 at Friedrichspark Arena. Winger Jochen Hecht recorded an assist in his first DEL appearance in six years. Two other offseason additions, John Tripp and Andy Delmore, each had three points on the night. Mannheim wasted little time and took a 1-0 lead when Christoph Ullmann beat Joaquin Gage 1-on-1 80 seconds into the contest – Mannheim's only even-strength tally of the night. Delmore and Greilinger added power-play goals to put the Adler up 3-0 after two. The floodgates opened when the Huskies received four minor penalties within a 105-second stretch midway through the final period. Mannheim seized the opportunity and put the game out of reach with three 5-on-3 power-play goals in 81 seconds (Devin Edgerton, Sascha Goc, Greilinger). Kassel's Dany Bousquet and Alexander Serikow spoiled Christobal Huet's shutout bid late in the game.
The revamped Hannover Scorpions are also 1-0 after a 4-2 (1-0, 1-1, 2-1) home win over expansion team and new regional foe Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg looked solid and the game was close until Andreas Morczinietz scored on an odd-man rush to make it 4-2 with under three minutes to go. Dan Lambert, Len Soccio and René Röthke (GWG) also scored for Hanover. Lambert and Fredrik Öberg both had two-point nights. Xavier Delisle, who was signed from the Augsburger Panther, tallied Wolfsburg's first-ever DEL goal on a man advantage at 10:56 of the second period. Jan Zurek also scored for the "Grizzlies".
A pair of power-play goals from Jean-Yves Roy lifted the Kölner Haie over the Krefeld Pinguine, 2-1 (1-0, 1-1, 0-0) on the road. Alexander Selivanov scored Krefeld's only goal, also on the man advantage.
Mike York's first DEL goal was not enough as the Iserlohn Roosters were edged 2-1 (1-1, 0-0, 1-0) at home by the DEG Metro Stars. Düsseldorf took a 1-0 lead on the power-play late in the first when Matt Davidson re-directed a point shot from Martin Ulrich past Roosters netminder Dimitrij Kotschnew. York evened the score on a nice solo effort seconds later. Iserlohn failed to capitalize on several power-play opportunities. On the other end of the ice, Daniel Kreutzer capped an odd-man rush midway through the final stanza to give the Stars a 2-1 win.
Gameday 1 Quotes"Winning the championship is always our No. 1 goal here in Cologne", said Brad Schlegel, the new captain of the Kölner Haie. "That's what we're working for."
"I am not going to promise a championship", Berlin Eisbären head coach Pierre Pagé said. "Anyone who does is a liar."
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