EBEL: Taillight Znojmo takes the Caps by surprise

Vienna Capitals suffered a surprising defeat in the Erste Bank Ice Hockey League (EBEL) on Friday. The champions and superior leaders of the standings had to admit defeat of Znojmo with 2:3 after penalty shooting. The two strongest pursuers KAC and Red Bull Salzburg also suffered home defeats and were overtaken by the Black Wings Linz.

The KAC was beaten 1:2 by the Graz 99ers and Salzburg lost to Innsbruck 2:3 after extra time. The Linz team, on the other hand, celebrated a 6:3 home win over Fehervar. While the top 4 are on their way to the pick rounds of the best six teams and Innsbruck (58) has a very good chance, it seems to be a tight race for sixth place in the last seven laps of the basic round. Zagreb (52 points) improved to sixth place with a 7:2 over the VSV, followed by Dornbirn (50), Graz (49) and Fehervar (47). Dornbirn was defeated by HCB Südtirol in Bolzano with 2:4.

In Vienna, coach Serge Aubin gave the 18-year-old Matthias Tschrepitsch his second start in an EBEL game, but the young goalkeeper could hardly prove his talent. The Czechs took the lead (8th) through Marek Spacek, to which Aubin responded. He took Tschrepitsch off the ice after 7:35 minutes and sent Einser-Goalie J. P. Lamoureux into the goal to shake up his disappointing team.

This was only halfway achieved in the middle third. After a pole goal from Ali Wukovits (26th) Andreas Nödl finished his 15 games with a 1-1 goal for the 1-1 draw, while Jerry Pollastrone made up for the new gap in powerplay (40th). After that no goals were scored, only Michal Plutnar scored in the penalty shootout and scored his first victory after six defeats.

The Black Wings, who also won their third game this year, are the new runner-up in the standings. Linz played a 2-0 lead against Fehervar and was trailing by 2-3, but still won the final. Rick Schofield with two goals, EBEL top marksman Brian Lebler with his 30th birthday. Saisontor and Joel Broda secured three points for the Upper Austrians.

The KAC could not finish the home misery against the Graz 99ers and is against the Styrians already for four games or is against them. almost two years (21. February 2016) without home victory. Matchwinner was the Canadian Anthony Camara, who made a successful debut for defensively strong Grazers with the goal to 2:1. For the guests it was their first away win after seven last defeats, which means they are still in the race for the pick round. Curious: for the seventh time the away team won in the duel between the two teams.

The Innsbruck sharks finished the winning streak of the Salzburg team in their own hall after six successes. The decision was made in the extra time, in which John Lammers fixed the fourth victory of the Tyrolean team in a row. At Salzburg, captain Matthias Trattnig made his comeback after a five-week injury break.

Dornbirn dropped out of the top 6 with the fourth defeat in a row. Bolzano Bozen won the game through the special teams with one understated goal and two powerplay goals. The VSV was leading 2-1 in Zagreb, but then scored five goals in a row and slipped to the penultimate place in the standings.