Master Red Bull Munich was the first team to win the ticket for the play-off quarter-finals in the DEL. The front runner won on the 44th. At the end of the day, Straubing Tigers finished 5:2 (0:0,3:0,2:2) and cannot be displaced from one of the top six places. Munich also underscored its lead in the standings with 94 points.
Five points behind, the Nuremberg Ice Tigers remain in second place after a 4:1 (2:0,2:1,0:0) at the Schwenninger Wild Wings. The Franconians thus kept DEL-record champion Eisbären Berlin (85) at a distance.
The capitals won 3:1 (0:0,3:1,0:0) at the Cologne sharks, who won again after the 22nd round. Seasonal defeat with 64 points from the direct play-off places fell.
The big winner of the sharks bankruptcy was the ERC Ingolstadt. The 2014 champion won last year’s finalist Grizzlys Wolfsburg 8-5 (1-1,1-1,1-3,6-1) after a strong third of the final period and improved from ninth to fifth place with 65 points. Wolfsburg (67) remains fourth in the standings. In the basement duel, the Augsburg Panther did not give Krefeld Penguins any chance at the 7:1 (4:0,3:1,0:0).
The international players Dominik Kahun (23rd), Patrick Hager (37th) and Frank Mauer (46th) brought Munich on the winning track after initial difficulties with their goals.
Just three weeks before the start of the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang/South Korea, Nuremberg was also able to rely on its players: Leonhard Pföderl (13th), Patrick Reimer (18th/26th) and Yasin Ehliz (21st) were successful for the Ice Tigers in Schwenningen.