EBEL: Fourth line heroics for Caps against Red Devils

The Vienna Capitals were clearly the more active team in the first 20 minutes of play. Florian Iberer had a good chance on the man advantage, just as Danny Bois had in the 11^th minute on a pass by Mario Fischer, but it was Fehervar to score the go-ahead-goal. Goaltender Nathan Lawson, in his first game after coming back from an injury, tried to clear the puck, but it took a bad bounce off the boards, giving Ladislav Sikorcin the wide open net.

The Capitals though did not waste much time, as Simon Gamache tied the game only three minutes later on the 5 on 3 power play. Derek Whitmore was only centimeters away from scoring Vienna’s second goal on the rebound, but the puck would somehow not the cross the goal line.

The Hungarians were on the man advantage at the beginning of the middle frame and also found two excellent opportunities, but both attempts were denied by a Lawson. In the 28^th minute the Canadian net minder though was beaten on a shot from the point by Curtis Francis, capitalizing on the power play.

The home team did not wait long for a response, as Julian Großlechner tied the game only 61 seconds later. A special week for the young Austrian forward and overall for Vienna’s checking line, who already scored on Tuesday in the CHL-matchup against Litvinov.

103 seconds after the tying goal Vienna’s defence forgot about Csaba Kovacs on a faceoff, who displayed great patience to once again regain the lead for the road team.

Hockey is a crazy game though and lives from unexpected momentum changes: In the 38^th minute Derek Whitmore was let alone in front of goalkeeper Miklos Rajna and converted McLean’s perfect pass. Only two minutes later and fourth liner Nikolaus Hartl even delivered the go-ahead goal, sending the teams into the second intermission with a close 4:3 lead for the Capitals.

In the 44^th minute Alba Volan had to kill off almost 90 seconds of two-men-disadvantage, which gave Jamie Fraser the needed space to deliver his feared one timers. Once Rajna’s fast catching glove did get the job done, whereas on the second opportunity he was helped out by the crossbar.

In the 47^th minute MacGregor Sharp was though able to score the fifth goal for Vienna with a top shelf snipe, but Brendan Connolly did not waste the next chance for the Hungarians to make it a one-goal-hockey game again. The Devils kept pushing and also found holes on a sloppy Caps’ defence. Daniel Koger and Chris Francis had excellent scoring chances, but in the end the Capitals were somehow able to ensure themselves the 3 points.

In the other games of the 5^th round in EBEL, defending champion Red Bull Salzburg, after a tough start to the season, could celebrate an important victory against Klagenfurt. Bolzano was also able to get back on the winning track by defeating Dornbirn, whereas also Znojmo and Linz picked up points.

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