Overtime magic between Vienna and Linz

EHC Black Wings Linz – Vienna Capitals 1:1 (3:2 OT, 4:5 OT)

Speaking about comeback qualities, the Black Wings from Linz have to be mentioned. In Game 1 Linz was facing its first loss on home ice in the playoffs, but Marc-Andre Dorion found the equalizer with 36 seconds remaining. In the overtime it was Sebastian Piche, who might be the league’s most exciting blue liner, to give the Upper Austrians the lead in the series.

In Game 2 the Vienna Capitals wanted to shake off this frustrating loss in the first matchup and were superior in the first period, as was also proven on the scoreboard. Florian Iberer, on a great assist by Matt Watkins, and Jonathan Ferland scored for the team coached by Jim Boni to make it 2:0 after 20 minutes. In addition Kenny Magowan and Matthias Iberer entertained the 4350 fans in the Albert Schulz Halle with a classic hockey fight. Overall it was a very intense and high speed playoff game.

The Caps did not want to step back and used a powerplay-situation in the 22^nd minute to make it 3:0. Linz saw this a wakeup call and started creating tons of scoring chances. The first time the puck crossed the goal line of Caps-netminder Matt Zaba, the goal was disallowed following an instant replay, but only 22 seconds later James Ulmer scored the first goal for the Black Wings on the powerplay. Linz kept the pressure high and this time it was Daniel Oberkofler to capitalize on the man advantage. The game was very equal at this time, as both teams kept the opposing goalie busy. Kristopher Foucault, on a great pass by Brett Carson, caught the defence of Linz sleeping, as he could go one-on-one against Wings’s goalie Michael Ouzas to reestablish the two-goal-lead. 4:2 was also the score going into the 2^nd intermission.

The Caps should had learned by that time, that playing one man short against Linz is very risky and so after 45 seconds of the 3^rd period Sebastian Piche made it a one goal hockey game again. Vienna was now trying to decide the game and Matt Watkins also had a huge chance, but Michael Ouzas was there with a sensational save. Matt Zaba on the other side also proved why he is one of the best to put between the pipes in EBEL, as Linz had more than one good chance to tie the game.

With 2:23 to go Philippe Lakos had to go to the sin bin and so wanted to find the equalizer. Rob Daum decided to pull the goalie with 53 seconds remaining and it paid off. Once again the Black Wings managed to come back in a game that seemed lost, thanks to Andrew Kozek who, assisted by Sebastian Piche, somehow managed to put the puck behind Zaba’s back with 21 seconds to go in regulation time.

The game went to overtime. In the first 10 minutes it was clearly Linz to dictate the pace, but Matt Zaba kept his coolness, even when Vienna had kill off a penalty. Also Vienna tried to create some more chances, all denied by Ouzas. So the game had to go to the 2^nd overtime period and there it took Peter MacArthur 1 minute and 54 seconds to beat the five-hole of Ouzas and make it a Best-of-Five-series.

EC Red Bull Salzburg – Klagenfurter AC 2:0 (5:2, 4:3)

The Red Bulls did not need a lot of time to show why they are the top favourites to win this season’s EBEL championship title. After a clear 5:2 victory in Game 1, Salzburg was in trouble in the second game of the series. Being down 0:3 on the road did not result as an issue though, as KAC was beaten 4:3, thanks to the game winner scored by John Hughes.

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