Munich, Germany - The Mannheim Adler became the sixth team to wrap up a playoff berth in the German Elite League Friday, leaving just two spots up for grabs. Augsburg and Iserlohn recorded big wins to stay alive in the playoff race. While the Panthers downed the 9th-place DEG Metro Stars to move within three points of the 8th-place Krefeld Pinguine, the Roosters lit up the scoreboard against the Hannover Scorpions. Elsewhere in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), the Frankfurt Lions and ERC Ingolstadt continued to push towards home-ice advantage. St. Louis' Doug Weight recorded a goal in his debut with Frankfurt.

Defender John Miner rifled a slapshot past Alex Jung with 8:45 to go in the third to lift the Augsburger Panther over the visiting DEG Metro Stars, 2-1 (0-0, 1-0, 1-1) .Ronny Arendt took advantage of an error by Metro Stars defender Markus Pöttinger to put the Panthers on the board 1:54 into the middle frame. Düsseldorf tied the game at 1-1 when former Panther Tommy Jakobsen wristed a high shot past Augsburg's goalie Jean-Francois Labbé at 7:13 of the third. Augsburg regained the lead on Miner's goal four minutes later but had to battle hard to hold off a late rally by the Stars.

"We have to play better in a key game like this", said Metro Stars head coach Butch Goring. "We made too many mistakes defensively and it cost us the game."

Said Panthers head coach Benoit Laporte: "Labbé played well, especially in the middle frame. We played with a lot of discipline tonight. It was not a spectators' game, but as a coach, I am very content.“

Rhett Gordon had a goal and two assists as the Iserlohn Roosters crushed the Hannover Scorpions 6-2 (2-0, 1-1, 3-1) at home. Ralph Intranuovo's goal at 12:59 of the third went down as the game-winner. He scored on an odd-man rush to give the Roosters a 3-1 lead at the second intermission. Gordon and Jean-Michael Liles (PP) added goals early in the third to extend Iserlohn's lead to 5-1. Mike Kennedy, Kevin Mitchell (PP) and Martin Knold (PP) also tallied for the Roosters. Robert Hock (PP) and Steve Wilson scored for Hanover.

Doug Weight's third career DEL goal at 3:15 of the final stanza went down as the game-winner as the Frankfurt Lions beat the Kassel Huskies 3-1 (0-0, 1-1, 2-0) at home. Weight, who appeared in 8 DEL games with the Rosenheim Star Bulls during the last NHL lockout in 1994-95, looked good in his return to Germany's Elite League, recording three shots and two points (1G, 1A) on the night. Weight was denied a goal in the first period when his wrist shot rang off the right goal post. Despite their domination, the Lions needed until the 12:58-mark of the second to finally bury the puck in the Husky net. Pat Lebeau scored on the man advantage, knocking the rebound of a Stephane Robidas shot past Kassel's Corey Hirsch. Kassel then failed to cash in on a 5-on-3 but managed to tie the game while still on the power-play when Brian Swanson tucked home the rebound of a shot by Nick Schultz. Frankfurt regained the lead early in the third when Weight took a feed from Robidas and backhanded the puck around Hirsch. The Huskies kept the game close until Jason Young put the game away, 3-1, with an empty-netter.

Doug Ast led the way with a pair of goals and an assist as ERC Ingolstadt avoided a season sweep by the Kölner Haie, winning 5-2 (2-0, 1-2, 2-0) at home. Ingolstadt was up 2-0 at the first intermission after goals by Cameron Mann (PP) and Ast. Cologne battled back and knotted the score at 2-2 on tallies from Alex Hicks and Sebastian Furchner. Ingolstadt regained a 3-2 lead at 12:46 of the second period when Ast scored on a power-play odd-man rush with Marco Sturm and Glen Goodall just seconds after jumping out of the penalty box. Jamie Langenbrunner put the game out of reach at 4-2 early in the third, tallying his first career DEL goal on a 5-on-3 advantage. ERC defenseman Ken Sutton sealed the win with an empty-net goal in the waning seconds.

Adding injury to insult, Haie defender Brad Schlegel, who made his return from reconstructive knee surgery, had to leave the game late in the second period after re-aggravating his knee.

Steve Passmore made 39 saves on the night as the Mannheim Adler secured their 11th straight DEL playoff berth with a 2-1 (0-0, 0-0, 2-1) home win over Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg outshot the Adler 40-31 but went 0-for-8 on the man advantage. Mannheim's Jochen Hecht broke the scoreless deadlock with 10:07 left in the game, knocking the rebound of a shot by Christoph Ullmann past Grizzlies goaltender Ty Conklin. Hecht also set up the eventual game-winner at 17:41 of the third. He stormed down the left wing and found Devin Edgerton in the slot to double Mannheim's lead to 2-0. With an extra attacker on the ice, Wolfsburg's Ladislav Karabin spoiled Steve Passmore's bid for his first DEL shutout with only 45 seconds to go.