Munich, Germany - The Berlin Eisbären became the first team to advance to the DEL semifinals after a 5-1 Game 5 win over the Augsburger Panther Saturday. They will be without winger Erik Cole though, who was assessed a six-game suspension. Elsewhere in the German Elite League playoffs, the Frankfurt Lions put themselves in position to wrap up their first-round series against the Hamburg Freezers Monday after a lucky overtime win. ERC Ingolstadt has the edge on the Kölner Haie after a four-goal rally. The Mannheim Adler missed their first chance to complete their upset of the Nürnberg Ice Tigers, but still hold a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Underdog Kassel Huskies is smelling upset in the DEL relegation series after a road shutout against Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg.

Eisbären win series 4-1

Goalie Oliver Jonas stopped 32 of the 33 shots he faced as the 2nd-seeded Berlin Eisbären secured their third straight trip to the DEL semifinals with a 5-1 (2-0, 1-0, 2-1) home win over the 7th-seeded Augsburger Panther. Kelly Fairchild recorded three assists on the night. Augsburg outshot Berlin 33-31, but the Eisbären were a little sharper – and luckier. They took a 1-0 lead only 126 seconds into the tilt when a shot by Florian Keller got deflected by a Panthers defender and got by Jean-Francois Labbé. Power-play goals from Derrick Walser late in the first and Steve Walker late in the second extended Berlin's lead to 3-0 at the second intermission. With the team skating four aside, Micki DuPont blasted a shot over Labbé's glove hand to put the game out of reach, 4-0, 4:29 into the final stanza.

Augsburg's only goal was scored by captain Duanne Moeser, who beat Jonas from the slot on the man advantage to cut Berlin's lead to 4-1. The native of Waterloo, Ontario, who will turn 42 on April 3, announced his retirement after 11 DEL seasons with the Panthers. "It's about time to call it a career", said Moeser. "I tried to give my best tonight, as in every game I played for Augsburg. Now I'm gonna enjoy my last bus ride home with the team."

Sven Felski rounded out the scoring with a short-handed empty-netter with 7:48 remaining in the game. Augsburg's coach Benoit Laporte had pulled Labbé to give his team a 6-on-4 advantage.

Berlin's Eric Cole was assessed a six-game suspension for his crushing open-ice hit on Augsburg's Arvids Rekis in Game 4. While coach Pagé called it "the best bodycheck I've seen in 20 years", the league regarded it as an attack to the head. Rekis was hospitalised with a major concussion.

Frankfurt up 3-2 after Gordon's second shutout

Defenseman Francois Bouchard scored on the power-play at 8:28 of overtime to give the top-seeded Frankfurt Lions a lucky 1-0 (0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0) home win over the 8th-seeded Hamburg Freezers. With Hamburg's Paul Manning in the sin bin for cross-checking, Bouchard connected on a blast from the right point to give Frankfurt a 3-2 series lead. It was Bouchard's second game-winner of the series after his last-second tally on an odd-man rush in Game 1.

Lions netminder Ian Gordon stopped 21 shots en route to his second playoff shutout. Hamburg's Boris Rousson, who also recorded a regulation shutout, posted a 46-save effort including the OT period.

3rd-period rally keeps Nuremberg alive

Greg Leeb recorded four points on the night (1G, 3A) as the 3rd-seeded Nürnberg Ice Tigers scored three unanswered third-period goals to come from behind for a 5-3 (2-1, 0-2, 3-0) home victory over the 6th-seeded Mannheim Adler. Mannheim still holds a 3-2 series lead.

Nuremberg was up 2-1 after twenty minutes. Petr Fical opened the scoring just 14 seconds into the tilt, going top-shelf on Adler goalie Cristobal Huet after a nice feed by Leeb. Mannheim's René Corbet and Nuremberg's Leeb then traded power-play goals.

Mannheim evened the score at 2-2 at 5:26 of the second when Tigers goaltender Adam Svoboda could not hold on to the puck on a screened shot from Corbet and Jochen Hecht tucked home the rebound. The Adler took their first lead of the game with under six minutes remaining in the middle frame when Eric Healey pulled to the net from the right slot and beat Svoboda with a low shot to make it 3-2.

The momentum shifted in the third when Sean Tallaire evened the score at 3-3 on the breakaway after a neutral zone turnover from Mannheim's Christoph Ullmann at the 4:40-mark. Less than two minutes later, a slightly deflected shot from Pascal Trepanier from center point past found its way past Huet to give Nuremberg a 4-3 lead on the man advantage. The Ice Tigers put the game away, 5-3, when Herbert Vasiljevs scored off the rebound of a shot by Yan Stastny with 5:12 remaining.

Ingolstadt rallies, takes 3-2 lead

5th-seeded ERC Ingolstadt scored four unanswered goals to erase an early 3-0 deficit and beat the 4th-seeded Kölner Haie 4-3 (0-3, 2-0, 2-0). The first road win of the series gives Ingolstadt a 3-2 series lead. Ingolstadt dominated the game, outshooting Cologne 56-24 over three periods. Haie goaltender Chris Rogles recorded 52 saves on the night. Winning netminder Jimmy Waite made a 21-save effort.

The Haie jumped out to a 3-0 lead midway through the opening stanza, scoring three goals within a span of 105 seconds. With Cologne cycling down low, Marquis Mathieu tallied from the slot to open the scoring at the 9:50-mark. Jeremy Adduono scored on an odd-man rush on the power-play and with a delayed penalty being called to double the lead to 2-0 a minute later. Another penalty, a roughing minor to ERC defender Ken Sutton, gave the Haie a 5-on-3 power-play. Dave McLlwain connected to make it 3-0 for the visitors. Back-to-back scores by Doug Ast and Marco Sturm got Ingolstadt back in the game late in the second.

Ingolstadt came out flying in the third and turned the game on another pair of back-to-back goals. Andy McDonald beat Rogles through the five-hole with a mighty blueline blast to knot the game at 3-3 with 8:25 remaining. Just 45 seconds later, Craig Ferguson scored the eventual game-winner on a rush alongside Glen Goodall and Niki Mondt.

Playdowns: Kassel one game away from upset

The Kassel Huskies are just one win away from securing another season in the German Elite League (DEL). Joaquin Gage made a mind-boggling 48 saves for his second postseason shutout as the Huskies beat Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg 2-0 (0-0, 2-0, 0-0) on the road to take a 3-2 lead in the DEL relegation series.

Kirk Furey tallied on the power-play to give Kassel a 1-0 lead at 8:03 of the second. Sven Valenti scored with only 9 ticks left in the second period to double the lead to 2-0.