The Vienna Capitals were also not slowed down by the Graz 99ers.The Viennese won the Erste Bank Ice Hockey League (EBEL) on Sunday at home 5:3 and lead after the 19.The winners were six points from Znojmo and seven from Innsbruck, who were defeated.
Znojmo lost at home against Zagreb 2:3 after extra time, Innsbruck had to admit defeat in Salzburg 3:6.The hitherto last-place finish HCB Südtirol declassified Fehervar with 7:2 and handed over the last place to the Hungarians.
The capitals were trailed by Daniel Woger (14th) but fell back shortly afterwards, scoring two goals within 24 seconds to take the lead with Niki Hartl and Kelsey Tessier (15th).At the beginning of the middle period, the Viennese continued to set the pace and, thanks to Riley Holzapfel (22nd) and Jerry Pollastrone, moved to 4:1 after an ingenious wooden apple presentation.
But the people of Graz didn’t give up and were shortened by Daniel Oberkofler (29/PP) and Rupert Strohmeier 46 seconds after the restart to 3:4.But the defending champion then controlled the final third and made everything clear with Macgregor Sharp (53rd).
Salzburg seems to be getting going after a disappointing start to the season and has now celebrated its third victory en suite.Alex Aleardi took the home side to the top after 39 seconds, and the Red Cops led 3-1 until the first break.Despite some defensive uncertainties, the victory was not really in danger after that “Defensively, however, we didn’t play stable enough in the final period and opened up too many chances for the opponent.Something like that can also take revenge and move quickly in the other direction.We also have to deal better with the many opportunities we have created for ourselves,”said Salzburg coach Greg Poss.
Black Wings Linz, with Florian Janny in goal for the first time this season, took the lead in Linz with a powerplay double pack from Rick Schofield (12th, 16th) in a 2-0 lead, but then an exciting game developed.Dornbirn was equal with Dustin Sylvester (25th) and Jerome Gauthier Leduc (34th) and was also able to make up for a new deficit.Matchwinner was Sebastien Piche.The defender, who had prepared the three previous Linz goals, scored in the 55th minute of the match.He scored the winning goal in one minute.