In the Erste Bank Ice Hockey League (EBEL), Vienna Capitals suffered their second defeat after the international match break. The leader from Vienna lost 2-3 to the Graz 99ers on Tuesday. The strongest rivals Black Wings Linz (6-2 against Innsbruck) and KAC (7-1 against Fehervar) have thus narrowed the gap to eight points each with clear successes.
Red Bull Salzburg lost 3:6 in Zagreb and VSV lost Znojmo 1:3. The Dornbirn Bulldogs won the late duel against HCB Südtirol 4:1.
The 99s ended a long negative series of guest performances of the capitals. After the 1. On 1 January 2015, the Styrians had lost all four home games against the Viennese, this time they finally scored three points with a strong performance, a good goalkeeper, a lot of fighting spirit and a little bit of luck. Brock Higgs with two goals for the 1-0 (19th) and 3-1 (51st) and the “Penalty Killers” were the match winners of the Styrian team.
In the middle of the match, the 99ers surpassed a four-minute shortfall and even took the lead in the counter-attack. Zintis Zusevic made use of a Setzinger preparatory work for the 2:1 lead (33rd) which heralded the victory. In addition, Doug Mason’s team was fortunate enough to be joined by three times in the final period when the capitals only hit metal. Only Niki Hartl with the first goal shot in the middle period and MacGregor Sharp in the finish (58th) could defeat Hannu Toivonen, goalkeeper of Graz.
The Black Wings Linz finished their small negative series of last three defeats, defending second place in the standings. Thanks to Sebastien Piche, the Upper Austrians didn’t clear things up until the third period. The defender scored 4-2 (42nd) in Powerplay and 5-2 (59th) in the empty goal.
The meeting of the best teams of the last five rounds between Fehervar and KAC became a clear matter for the Carinthians. Fehervar only lasted until the 36th minute. Stefan Geier and Jonathan Rheault opened the match with a double pack within nine seconds of Austria’s record champions paving the way to victory. Johannes Bischofberger with two goals, Steven Strong and Jullian Talbot finally helped the Klagenfurt team to the highest victory of the season. Until Tuesday, the KAC had scored the second least goals.
Medvescak Zagreb once again proved their home strength against Salzburg and scored well in the tenth home game of the season. The Croatians outnumbered the game in the final period. Mike Boivin (47th) and triple goalscorer Sondre Olden (49th) shot the “bears” in powerplay for the final decisive 5:3 lead. Salzburg missed six regulars due to injuries.
In Znojmo the guests also won the fifth duel with Villach in a row. Due to the third defeat in the third game after the break in the league, the Villacher fell by three places to ninth place.