Barons captain Simon Wheeldon tallied a powerplay goal and two assists as Munich jumped out to a 5-1 lead at the second intermission. Defender Jason Herter, who has been troubled by a meniscus injury all season, made a surprise comeback, tallying one assist.
„With the tight schedule and all the injuries we’ve had, it’s great to head into the break as league leaders,“ Barons sports director Max Fedra remarked.
After their third straight win, the Barons now have 102 points out of 50 games, enough to pass the Krefeld Pinguine and defending champion Mannheim Adler who are tied for second with 101 points each.
Frankfurt got off to a good start. Former Baron Rick Girard wasted a big opportunity early on.
It was the Barons who opened the scoring, though. Christoph Schubert capped an odd-man rush midway through the first to give the Barons a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Frankfurt’s Victor Gervais came up with the 1-1 equalizer early in the second when he scored on a rebound of Brent Tully’s shot.
Alexander Selivanov then failed to put Frankfurt ahead when he was stopped by Barons netminder Boris Rousson.
The Barons turned the momentum midway through the second, tallying four scores within twelve minutes. Simon Wheeldon reclaimed the lead on a powerplay goal eight minutes into the second.
Four minutes later, defender Shane Peacock extended the lead to 3-1, capitalizing on a mistake by Lions netminder Leo Conti . Back-to-back scores within the final two minutes of the period by Jörg Handrick and Derek King gave the Barons a commanding 5-1 lead at the second intermission.
Without endangering Munich’s win, the Lions cut the lead to 5-3 on consolation goals by Alexander Selivanov and Vadym Slivchenko late in the third.
Two former Barons scored for the Lions: Rick Girard and Christoph Sandner each recorded an assist.
Frankfurt Lions - München Barons 3-5 (0-1, 1-4, 2-0)Scoring- 0-1 (10:05) Christoph Schubert (Peter Douris, Johan Rosén), 1-1 (22:22) Pascal
Appel (Brent Tully, Rick Girard), 1-2 (27:48) Simon Wheeldon (Mike Kennedy, Andy Schneider - 5:4), 1-3 (32:00) Shane Peacock (Simon Wheeldon, Jörg Handrick), 1-4 (38:08) Jörg Handrick (Mike Kennedy, Simon Wheeldon), 1-5 (39:04) Derek King (Jason Herter, David Oliver), 2-5 (53:43) Alexander Selivanov (Christoph Sandner, Vadym Slivchenko), 3-5 (58:28) Vadym Slivchenko (Alexander Selivanov, Robin Doyle).
Penalties: Frankfurt 6, München 2.
Attendance: 4 ,800 (Eissporthalle am Ratsweg, Frankfurt).
