Munich, Germany - Defending champion Frankfurt Lions continues to push towards the top seed in the DEL playoffs. Frankfurt spanked 4th-place Ingolstadt for the second time in 48 hours Tuesday night to improve its point total to 97. With four games remaining in the regular season, Rich Chernomaz's team has a five-point cushion over last year's regular season champ Berlin Eisbären, who are in second place after a dominating home win over the Hamburg Freezers. Elsewhere in the German Elite League Tuesday, Krefeld came from behind to gain two valuable points in the battle for the final playoff spot. Meanwhile, Iserlohn's hopes are fading after a loss in Nuremberg.

Two days after Sunday's 4-1 home win, the Frankfurt Lions crushed injury-riddled ERC Ingolstadt again, winning 6-1 (2-0, 4-0, 0-1) on the road. Pat Lebeau had three assists and Andrej Strakhov tallied a pair of goals for the Lions. Ingolstadt was missing several key players, including Marco Sturm and Cameron Mann, who were out with the flu, starting goalie Jimmy Waite (knee), Andy McDonald (concussion) and defenseman Jakub Ficenec (hand). Frankfurt was up 2-0 at the first intermission after even-strength goals from Strakhov and Francois Bouchard. The floodgates opened early in the second when Ingolstadt allowed two short-handed goals on the same power-play. Sean Pronger made it 3-0 at the 4:38-mark on a 3-on-1 odd-man rush with Lebeau and Bouchard. 57 seconds later, Michael Hackert scored on the breakaway, 4-0. ERC goalie Steffen Karg then made room for third-stringer Jochen Vollmer, who made his first DEL appearance since the 2000-01 season. He conceded two more goals by Dwayne Norris (PP) and Strakhov. Ingolstadt's Günter Oswald scored a consolation goal in the waning minutes of the game. Doug Weight recorded an assist to keep his three-game point streak alive.

Kelly Fairchild led the way with a pair of goals as the Berlin Eisbären made it back to back wins over the Hamburg Freezers with a 4-1 (0-0, 2-0, 2-1) road victory. Fairchild and Shawn Heins scored 71 seconds apart to break a scoreless deadlock in the final two minutes of the middle frame. Fairchild tucked home a rebound and Heins ripped a mighty slapper past JS Giguere with only 11 seconds left in the second period. Hamburg cut the lead to a goal, 2-1, on a power-play tally by Jacek Plachta early in the third. But 11 was the magic number again. Just 11 seconds after Plachta's goal, Fairchild found the back of the net again to give the Eisbären a 3-1 lead. Alex Barta's late tally sealed the 4-1 win.

The Nürnberg Ice Tigers defended third place with a 4-1 (1-0, 2-0, 1-1) home win over the Iserlohn Roosters whose playoff hopes are fading. Herbert Vasiljevs recorded a goal and an assist in his return from injury. Brad Tapper's goal on a two-man advantage at 11:45 of the second went down as the game-winner. Greg Leeb (PP) and Robert Tomik also scored for the Tigers. Iserlohn's Franz Fritzmeier spoiled Adam Svoboda's shutout hopes with a third-period powerplay tally.

The Krefeld Pinguine came from behind to down the Hannover Scorpions 4-3 (0-0, 2-3, 1-0, 1-0) on the road after penalty shootout. Krefeld currently holds the eighth and final playoff spot, just three points ahead of the DEG Metro Stars. Hanover was up 3-1 late in the second after goals by Patrik Augusta, Andreas Morczinietz and Patrick Köppchen. With only seven ticks left in the middle frame, Steve Brulé's second tally of the night brought the Penguins within one goal, 3-2, deflecting in a point shot by Guy Lehoux. Adrian Grygiel ripped a hard shot past Rich Parent for the game-tying score at 11:06 of the third. Alex Selivanov notched the game-winning shot in the ensuing penalty shootout.