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."