Munich, Germany - Doug Weight put on a clinic in his second appearance for the Frankfurt Lions Sunday, tallying three goals and an assist to lead the defending DEL Champion over ERC Ingolstadt. Elsewhere in the German Elite League, the Berlin Eisbären moved into second place behind Frankfurt with a come-from-behind win over Hamburg. Dusseldorf, Krefeld, Augsburg and Iserlohn all kept their playoff hopes alive with just four games remaining in the regular season. While the Hannover Scorpions and the last-place Kassel Huskies have been officially eliminated from playoff contention, slumping expansion team Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg still has mathematical chances but could also be sucked into the relegation battle.

Doug Weight increased his point total to six in only his second game back in the DEL, recording a hat trick and an assist as the Frankfurt Lions cruised to a 4-1 (3-0, 0-1, 1-0) home win over ERC Ingolstadt. Weight wasted little time. He put the Lions on the scoreboard 1:49 into the tilt, beating ERC goalie Steffen Karg with a low turnaround shot from the left slot. Weight then recorded an assist on Stephané Robidas' power-play one-timer that doubled Frankfurt's lead to 2-0 at the 12:50-mark. The Lions kept pressing. Weight struck again on the man advantage with 3:57 left in the opening frame, tucking home the rebound of a shot by Francois Bouchard, 3-0. Doug Ast put Ingolstadt on the board midway through the second period, but the goal failed to ignite a rally. Weight put the game out of reach with his third goal at 9:48 of the third. He beat goalie Karg 1-on-0 after an ERC defender fanned on the puck in his own zone.

Said Weight, who played his first two competitive games in ten months: "I'm trying to get the rust off quickly. I've been on the table a little bit, getting some massages. I've been training once or twice a week in St. Louis, but it's been about ten months since I've had physical contact. Frankfurt's got a great team and I hope these guys will help me get in shape quickly."

The 5th-place Kölner Haie suffered another blow in their battle for home-ice advantage in the playoffs, losing their third straight game, 3-2 (1-1, 2-1, 0-0) at home to the Augsburger Panther. Augsburg kept its playoff hopes alive with solid goaltending from JF Labbé, who made 38 saves, disciplined play and a perfect power-play performance, going 3-for-3 on the night. The Haie drew first blood on a goal by Alex Hicks midway through the opening period. Augsburg tied the score at 1-1 on the man advantage when Mike Pudlick ripped a one-timer from center point over Chris Rogles' glove hand at the 13:22-mark. The Panthers then took a 2-1 lead on their next power-play opportunity. Rick Girard's perfect pass from the right corner found defenseman Rich Brennan – who had sneaked behind the Haie defense – in the left slot and he one-timed the puck under the crossbar to make it 2-1 at 7:39 of the middle frame. A lucky bounce knotted the score at 2-2 five minutes later. Tino Boos' soft centering pass from the left boards hit the right skate of Panthers defender Arvids Rekis and bounced into the net. The Haie failed to turn the momentum of the game though. Augsburg killed off a 5-on-3 and regained the lead with 35 seconds to go in the middle frame. With the Panthers cycling down low, Francois Methot pulled to the net and knocked a shot through Rogles' five-hole to make it 3-2. The Haie showed some effort, but failed to come back. Labbé denied Boos on the doorstep on an odd-man rush with under four minutes to go to protect Augsburg's lead.

Klaus Kathan's goal at 3:11 of the opening period turned out to be enough as the DEG Metro Stars held on for a 1-0 (1-0, 0-0, 0-0) home win over Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg. Düsseldorf's netminder Andrei Trefilov made 31 saves for his third shutout of the season. Grizzlies goalie Ty Conklin also had a very good afternoon, stopping 33 of the 34 shots he faced.

Kelly Fairchild tallied with 4:21 left in the game to lift the Berlin Eisbären to a 3-2 (1-0, 0-1, 2-1) come-from-behind win over the visiting Hamburg Freezers. Winning netminder Oliver Jonas of the Eisbären recorded 27 saves, Freezers goalie Jean Sebastien Giguere registered 35 stops in his second straight loss. Berlin drew first blood when Sven Felski knocked a shot through Giguere's pads at 12:57 of the opening period. The momentum shifted in the middle frame. Freezers defender Martin Walter converted a pass from Brandon Reid to knot the score at 1-1 1:57 into the period. Hamburg continued to dominate but it took them until the final stanza to capitalize again. Just 14 seconds in, Brad Purdie tallied from the slot to put the Freezers up 2-1. A power-play tally by Denis Pederson evened the score at 2-2 six minutes later.

Rob Guillet notched the game-winning goal in the penalty shootout to lift the Krefeld Pinguine over the visiting Kassel Huskies, 6-5 (0-1, 4-1, 1-3, 1-0). The loss extended the franchise long losing streak of the last-place Huskies to nine games. Mark Greig's game-tying goal with 6:15 left in the game at least saved them a point for a regulation tie. Daniel Corso (1G, 3A) and Brian Swanson (2G, 2A) each recorded four points on the night for Kassel. Stevé Brulé (3A) and Rob Guillet (1G, 2A) led the Penguins in scoring. Defenseman Justin Kurtz and Krystofer Kolanos both tallied two goals.

Mike York converted the game-winning penalty shot and also recorded two assists as the Iserlohn Roosters rallied from a 5-2 third-period deficit to down the Nürnberg Ice Tigers 6-5 (2-2, 0-2, 3-1, 1-0) after penalty shootout. Petr Fical scored a hat trick for Nuremberg.

Robert Hock and Paul Mara each recorded a pair of assists as the Hannover Scorpions upset the Mannheim Adler 3-0 (2-0, 1-0, 0-0) on the road. Andreas Morczinietz, Jason Cipolla (PP) and Fredrik Öberg scored for Hanover. Rich Parent made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season.