Munich, Germany - Youngsters Norman Martens and Christoph Gawlik each had two points on the night as the third-place Berlin Eisbären skated past the DEG Metro Stars Tuesday. The gap between the second-place Kölner Haie, who were idle, and Berlin has melted to a point. Fourth- and fifth-place teams Frankfurt and Ingolstadt also kept closing in on the Haie while sixth-place Mannheim failed to snap its losing streak. Elsewhere in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) on Tuesday, the Iserlohn Roosters recorded a key win in their quest for a playoff berth. The Hamburg Freezers exploded for their largest offensive output of the season in a rout of the Kassel Huskies.

18-year-old Norman Martens scored twice, including the game-winner at 2:46 of the second, as the Berlin Eisbären jumped out to a 5-0 lead and held on for a 5-2 (2-0, 3-0, 0-2) home win over the DEG Metro Stars. Two other Eisbären youngsters had big nights, too. 17-year-old Christoph Gawlik recorded assists on Martens' two goals. And 18-year-old netminder Daniar Dshunussow, who made his second DEL start with number one goalie Oliver Jonas still out with a stomach flu and backup Youri Ziffzer playing in the Wolrd Junior Championships, made 29 saves for his first-career win. Martens put the Eisbären up 1-0 just three minutes into the tilt, squeezing the puck through the five-hole of DEG goalie Alex Jung on a wrap-around. Berlin doubled the lead on the power-play, 2-0, when Kelly Fairchild's diagonal pass found Mark Beaufait all alone near the right goal post halfway through the opening frame. Martens struck again early in the second, tucking home the rebound after a hard point shot from Gawlik bounced off Jung. Two more second-period goals put the game out of reach at 5-0. Fairchild scored on a turn-around shot from the slot on the man advantage. Then Rob Shearer re-directed a shot from Florian Keller out of mid-air past Jung. The Stars would not go down without a fight though and scored twice in the final stanza. Andy Schneider scored off the rebound of a shot from Mike Pellegrims on the power-play and youngster Patrick Reimer went top-shelf on his backhand to cap the scoring at 5-2 with 6:26 left in the game.

DEL top scorer Pat Lebeau recorded three assists as the Frankfurt Lions dominated the Mannheim Adler for the third time this season, skating to an easy 5-2 (2-0, 2-1, 1-1) road win. Mannheim has lost four straight. Francois Bouchard's goal, which made it 3-0 at 6:40 of the second period, went down as the game-winner. Just a minute later, fellow-defender Stephane Robidas put the game out of reach at 4-0.

Jimmy Waite of ERC Ingolstadt is only two shutouts away from Sinuhe Wallinheimo's DEL single—season record of nine. set in the 2000-01 season. Waite had 24 saves on the night for his seventh shutout as Ingolstadt blanked the hapless Hannover Scorpions on the road, 2-0 (0-0, 2-0, 0-0). Ingolstadt took the lead when Martin Jiranek ripped a one-timer past Rich Parent at 8:17 of the second. They made it 2-0 on a power-play tally with 29 seconds left in the middle frame when Nicki Mondt re-directed a point shot by Ken Sutton, who had two assists on the night.

Igor Alexandrov scored a hat trick as the Iserlohn Roosters recorded a big home win over a rival in the playoff race, beating the Augsburger Panther 4-1 (1-0, 1-1, 2-0). Iserlohn's second stringer Leonardo Conti had 22 saves on the night. Alexandrov put the Roosters up 1-0 midway through the first, scoring off the rebound of a Mike Martin point shot. Augsburg started pressing for the equalizer, but hurt itself with penalties. With Panther Daniel Rau in the sin bin, Alexandrov scored after fine solo effort to make it 2-0 at 13:41 of the second. Panthers defender Steve Bancroft blasted a shot from the slot past Conti to bring Augsburg within one, 2-1, with just over a minute to go in the middle frame. But the Roosters took over again in the third, outshooting Augsburg 11-2, and it showed on the scoreboard. Ralph Intranuovo took a pass from Rhett Gordon and scored on the short-handed breakaway to make it 3-1. Intranuovo also assisted on Alexandrov's third tally of the night, which put the game away at 4-1 halfway through the third.

Craig Johnson scored a hat trick as the Hamburg Freezers lit up the scoreboard against the Kassel Huskies in an 8-3 (2-1, 4-2, 2-0) home win. Johnson tallied a total of five points on the night. Brandon Reid (2G, 2A), Darren Van Impe (4A), Brad Purdie (2G, 1A), Jacek Plachta (3A) and Dave Tomlinson (1G, 1A) had multiple-point nights for the Freezers.

Adryan Grygiel and Scott King scored third-period goals to lift the Krefeld Pinguine to a 4-2 (2-1, 0-0, 2-1) home win over Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg to end a five-game losing streak.