Perfect matchday gives Cologne the DEL lead back

In the top game of the day the Kölner Haie beat DEL record champions Eisbären Berlin on the road. Nathan Robinson needed only three minutes to get the guests in front against his former team, the Polar Bears. The home fans had to wait long for a reaction of their side but at 49:33 Jens Baxmann scored the equalizer for the Eastern Germans. A tripping penalty against Berlin's Jim Sharrow half a minute later turned out to be decisive for the guest success as the following power play was used by Rok Ticar to score the game winner for Cologne. With 55 seconds left to play in regulation DEL veteran Mirko Lüdemann made everything clear for the Sharks who now are back as the DEL's leaders.

Taking over the lead was possible for Cologne as the Adler Mannheim lost during their road trip to second last Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg. Matt Dzieduszycki twice opened the score for the outsiders Wolfsburg with the equalizer through Michael Glumac in between. After Sebastian Furchner added another one for the Lower Saxons they looked already like the clear winner but again Michael Glumac brought Mannheim back. In the end an empty netter by Kai Hospelt was decisive for Wolfsburg who still remain at the bottom of the league but who came closer to the playoff spots.
 
The Hamburg Freezers are now 3rd in the league table after defeating the Nürnberg Ice Tigers at home. Colin Murphy with a double - one of his goals was an empty netter - Thomas Oppenheimer and Rob Collins scored the goals for the hosts while Casey Borer with two strikes kept Nürnberg in the game for a long time.

After the end of the NHL lockout and the loss of their superstar Christian Ehrhoff the Krefeld Pinguine just can't stop their negative trend. In Ingolstadt they lost due to a double scored through Jakub Ficenec and Joe Motzko within only ten seconds of the 48th minute. Herberts Vasiljevs only could cut the lead to the half for Krefeld with 19 seconds left on the clock but it was to late for a further reaction. Before Kris Sparre and John Laliberte had scored for Ingolstad and Francois Méthot and Richard Pavlikovsky did so for the guests from Krefeld. For the Penguins it was already their 7th (!!!) loss in a row.

Augsburger Panther fell out of the top-6 spots in the DEL table that give direct entry into the playoff quarterfinals. At home they were defeated in shootout by bottom side Düsseldorfer EG. With a double by Sergio Somma in the second period the hosts turned around the initial guest lead earned by Calle Ridderwall - with assists by Justin Bostrom and Travis Turnbull. The trio was also the one to score the late DEG equalizer at 54:45 when Turnbull was the goal scorer and Ridderwall and Bostrom his assistants. After a scoreless overtime, the guests showed their precision during penalty shots when they transformed four out of their five attempts with the game winner through Colin Long who gave Düsseldorf the extra point. 

A third-period goal by David Sulkovsky at 44:13 was just enough to get the Hannover Scorpions all three points during their visit to EHC Red Bull München. The foundation to the success though was the great performance by guest goalie Dmitri Pätzold who gained a shutout with 39 saves.

Iserlohn and Straubing switched positions with the Bavarian guests taking the 10th and thus last playoff spot from Iserlohn this evening. Mark Bell and twice Mike York brought the hosts from Iserlohn in front three times during the first period but it wasn't even enough to keep a single point at home. Karl Stewart and René Kramer answered for Straubing in the first 20 minutes before Calvin Elfring tied the match again around "half time". Carsen Germany at 50:16 and Karl Stewart with an empty netter made everything clear for Straubing.