Munich, Germany - Former Vezina Trophy winner Olaf Kolzig recorded a shutout in his first-ever start in the German Elite League DEL. He made 26 saves as the Berlin Eisbären edged the Kölner Haie on the first gameday after the DEL Allstar Break Tuesday. Defending champion Frankfurt Lions expanded its lead on top of the standings as both ERC Ingolstadt and the Nürnberg Ice Tigers, respectively, were lucky to reach the bonus session against alleged underdogs. Frankfurt and second-place Ingolstadt became the first two teams to secure postseason berths. With eighth-place Krefeld being crushed by Frankfurt, the Augsburg Panthers moved within one point of the final playoff spot with a win over the Hannover Scorpions.

A first-period goal by youngster André Rankel turned out to be enough as the Berlin Eisbären relied on Olaf Kolzig's goaltending, blanking the Kölner Haie 1-0 (1-0, 0-0, 0-0) on the road. Coming off international play with Team Germany, Kolzig looked excellent in his first-ever league game in Germany, earning a 26-save shutout. Just seconds after killing off a penalty, the Berlin Eisbären swarmed Chris Rogles' net and Rankel poked home the third rebound to make it 1-0 at 13:49 of the opening period. Erik Cole could have doubled the lead on a penalty shot midway through the middle frame but was turned down by Rogles. On the other end of the ice, Kolzig caught a break in the second period when a shot from Cologne's Tino Boos rang off the woodwork.

Veteran Jason Young led the way with a hat trick and an assist and league-leading scorer Pat Lebeau had four assists and a goal as the Frankfurt Lions crushed the Krefeld Pinguine 6-2 (3-2, 2-0, 1-0) at home to extend their win streak to six games. Krefeld has lost three straight.

San Jose's Marco Sturm notched the game-winning penalty shot as ERC Ingolstadt rallied back from a 3-0 deficit to down the Iserlohn Roosters 5-4 (0-3, 2-1, 2-0, 1-0) after penalty shootout. The visiting Roosters were up 3-0 after twenty minutes thanks to a first-period hat trick from Ralph Intranouvo. Ingolstadt came alive in the second, cutting the lead to 3-2 on goals by Craig Ferguson (PP) and Cameron Mann. Ingolstadt's rally was slowed down when Roosters captain Bryan Adams beat ERC netminder Steffen Karg on the man advantage, making it 4-2 nine seconds before the final intermission. After a slow start into the third, Sturm revived Ingolstadt's comeback hopes at 11:34. Back to back penalties to Roland Verwey (holding) and Brian White (delay of game) gave Ingolstadt a late 5-on-3. At the tail end of the two-man advantage, Mann knocked the puck past Dimitrij Kotschnew for the game-tying goal with 3:55 left in the game.

With Jean-Sebastien Giguere not yet cleared to play by the hesitant Hamburg Freezers front office, goaltender Boris Rousson put on a clinic, earning a 32-save shutout as the Hamburg Freezers blanked Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg on the road, 5-0 (2-0, 2-0, 1-0). Forwards Brandon Reid and Brad Purdie each scored a goal and two assists.

Robert Tomik notched the game-tying goal with 4:34 left and Petr Fical scored the game-winner in the penalty shootout as the Nürnberg Ice Tigers came from behind to beat the Kassel Huskies 5-4 (0-2, 3-0, 1-2, 1-0) on the road. Kassel, which is dead last in the standings, has lost five straight.

Francois Methot's goal, which made it 3-1 at 16:52 of the first, went down as the game winner as the Augsburger Panther held off the Hannover Scorpions 5-2 (3-2, 1-0, 1-0).

The DEG Metro Stars wasted a 2-0 lead but held on to beat the visiting Mannheim Adler 3-2 (1-0, 1-1, 0-1, 1-0) after penalty shootout. Dusseldorf was up 2-0 after goals from youngster Patrick Reimer and Klaus Kathan. Christoph Ullmann put Mannheim on the scoreboard, 2-1, in the middle frame. The Metro Stars had several opportunities to put the game away in the final stanza. They failed to take advantage of three straight power-play opportunities though. Mannheim's René Corbet knotted the score at 2-2 with 7:42 remaining in the third.

Said Kevyn Adams of the Carolina Hurricanes, who made his DEL debut with the Metro Stars: "Playing in this atmosphere was great. There's good chemistry on this team and it was good to come out on top of this game."