Red Bull Munich has successfully defended its ultra-thin lead over rivals Eisbären Berlin in the DEL and remains the leader of the standings after seven wins from the past eight games. On Friday evening, the Munich team won the derby at the ERC Ingolstadt with 5:2 and are now trailing 17th place. With 37 points, the second match day continues with the DEL record champion from the capital city.
The polar bears, who beat Munich 5:4 last Sunday in the summit against Munich 5:4 after penalty-shooting, struggled for a 2:1 win against the last-but-one Straubing Tigers. The Nuremberg Ice Tigers (36) are in third place after a 5:2 against the Cologne sharks. But the Franks played one game less than the top duo.
While the sharks (25) slipped to seventh place, the Duesseldorf EC (19) is trapped in the basement after a 3-0 draw with runner-up Grizzly’s Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg (26) is fourth.
Red Bull’s goalkeeper Brooks Macek was twice as badly hit for Red Bull, with the important goals scoring 3-1 and 4-2 after the Ingolstadt goalkeeper. Sean Backman and Nick Petersen scored a 2-0 victory over the polar bears, while Straubing’s Austin Madaisky made it even more exciting just before the end.