Munich, Germany - Heading into the 11-day All Star Break, the Frankfurt Lions find themselves back on top of the German Elite League after thrashing the hapless Hamburg Freezers. ERC Ingolstadt suffered a late breakdown in Mannheim and fell back into second place. Elsewhere in the DEL on Friday, Augsburg pulled off a big win in the playoff race, edging the eighth-place Krefeld Pinguine on the road.

Marc Beaucage had two goals and two assists as the Frankfurt Lions routed the injury riddled Hamburg Freezers, 7-0 (3-0, 1-0, 3-0) on the road. Ian Gordon made 19 saves for his third shutout. With newly signed Jean Sebastien Giguere watching from the stands, Freezers netminder Boris Rousson didn't get any support from his teammates. The hungrier and faster Lions took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Beaucage at the 5:50-mark and never looked back. The game was virtually over after late goals from Beaucage and Dwayne Norris extended the Lions' lead to 3-0 at the first intermission. Sean Pronger made it 4-0 midway through the second period with his first of two goals. Third-period tallies from Michael Hackert, Pronger and Jason Young closed out the rout.

With second-string goalie Steffen Karg putting on a clinic and nursing a 2-0 lead with just over eight minutes remaining, ERC Ingolstadt looked like a sure winner in Mannheim Thursday night. But Yannick Tremblay's first DEL goal started a wild rally that saw the Mannheim Adler triumph 4-2 (0-0, 0-2, 4-0) at home.

Mannheim dominated the game early on, but had nothing to show for it at the first intermission. Things got even worse for the hosts when Ingolstadt's Craig Ferguson found Marco Sturm who came out of the penalty box and beat Adler goalie Steve Passmore 1-on-0 with a shot through the five-hole 1:28 into the middle frame. Ingolstadt patiently waited for opportunities to open up. A long outlet pass by defenseman Brad Burym set up another breakaway goal. Markus Schröder beat Passmore low again to double the lead to 2-0 midway through the second stanza. ERC failed to put the game away and let Mannheim hang in there. The momentum changed when a backhanded no-look pass from behind the net by Eric Healey found Tremblay all alone on the doorstep to cut the lead to 2-1 with 7:58 remaining in the third. All of a sudden, the Adler had Ingolstadt on their heels. After a funny bounce, Steve Kelley found himself all alone in front of Karg and tucked home the puck for the 2-2 equalizer less than three minutes later. Smelling blood, Mannheim kept pressing and put the nail in the coffin with 3:08 left. Devin Edgerton skated into the Ingolstadt zone and fired a mighty slapshot from the left face-off circle over Steffen Karg's glove hand for the game-winner, 3-2. Healey, who had wasted a penalty shot earlier in the period, sealed the win with an empty-netter 30 seconds from the final horn.

Healey (1G, 2A) and John Tripp (3A) each recorded three points on the night. "In the third period, we just kept getting the puck deep and kept crashing their net," Healey explained. "I guess the team showed a lot of character tonight."

A power-play goal from recently signed defender Rich Brennan gave the ninth-place Augsburger Panther a big 2-1 (1-0, 0-1, 1-0) road win over the Krefeld Pinguine, who still have a hold on the eighth and final playoff spot, four points ahead of Augsburg. With the game knotted 1-1 after powerplay goals by Augsburg's Francois Methot and Krefeld's Scott King, Penguins captain Steffen Ziesche was assessed a five-minute slashing major plus game misconduct late in the second period. Augsburg cashed in just 13 seconds after the break when Brennan re-directed a blast from John Miner past Pens netminder Robert Müller. Krefeld was not even close to a comeback. Trailing by just a goal, the Penguins only managed one shot on Augsburg's net in the final twenty minutes.

The Iserlohn Roosters kept their faint playoff hopes alive with a 3-2 (1-1, 0-1, 2-0) come-from-behind win over Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg. Ralph Intranuovo tied the score at two apiece on a powerplay goal early in the third. Defenseman John Michael Liles supplied the clincher on a shorthanded rush with Brad Lysak at 14:15 of the third. Wolfsburg came close to tying the game again but Iserlohn caught a big break when a shot by Xavier Delisle rang off the framework in the waning seconds.

With newly signed Olaf Kolzig watching from the stands, the Berlin Eisbären rallied from a 2-0 deficit to edge the Kassel Huskies 3-2 (0-1, 2-1, 1-0) at home. Steve Walker, who had two points on the night, poked home the game winner at 12:23 of the third.

Andreas Morczinietz scored the 3-3 equalizer at 8:49 of the third and Robert Hock notched the game-winner in the ensuing penalty shootout as the Hannover Scorpions edged the Kölner Haie 4-3 (2-2, 0-1, 1-0, 1-0) at home.