Red Bull Munich celebrated their eighth consecutive victory in the DEL and extended the lead of the standings. The defending champion won 6-0 (3-0,1-0,2-0,2-0) at the Cologne Sharks and is now one point ahead of the Nuremberg Ice Tigers and two against the Eisbären Berlin, both of which celebrated victories in extra time.
Nuremberg prevailed at the Dusseldorf EC 4:3 (1:1,0:1,1:1,1:0) in overtime, the record champion Berlin won at the Krefeld Penguins 4:3 (2:0,0:2,1:1,1:0).
In the meantime, last year’s finalist Grizzlys Wolfsburg won the Iserlohn Roosters 4:1 (1:0,1:0,2:1). The ERC Ingolstadt, which is coached by Canadian Doug Shedden after the Christmas holidays, won 5:1 (1:1,2:0,2:0,2:0) at Fischtown Pinguins.
In Cologne, Munich set the pace from the very beginning. After goals from Derek Joslin (2nd), Mads Christensen (10th) and Brooks Macek (17th), the favourite quickly took the lead. Former Patrick Hager (40th, 54th) and Ryan Button (48th) from Cologne increased to 6-0.
Thanks to Sean Backman’s goal, Berlin prevailed, while Nuremberg’s Leo Pföderl advanced to match winner with his goal in overtime.