Red Bull Salzburg, Vienna Capitals and KHL Medvescak Zagreb also won their second quarter-finals in the Erste Bank Ice Hockey League (EBEL) on Sunday. The “Bullen” celebrated a 2:0 victory in Dornbirn, the Caps triumphed in Innsbruck 3:2 after Overtime, and the Croats swept the Linz Black Wings 6:2 from the ice in their home game. The KAC, however, managed to equalise 1:1 in the “best of seven”series with a 3:2 victory in Bolzano.
Salzburg had a hard time in the “Ländle”, but was not allowed to play until the 29th minute. One minute after a hit from John Hughes, they cheer for the lead. Matthew Generous finally made the final decision in favour of the guests 4:05 minutes before the end.
The capitals came to a thrilling ice hockey thriller in Innsbruck for a 3-2 victory after extra time. The match winner was 30-year-old experienced Rafael Rotter with his winning goal after exactly 72:36 minutes. It was the 14th. Play-off success en suite for the Viennese.
The defending champion from Vienna, who had won the first game clearly 4:1, went through Brandon Buck in front (12th). But a powerplay double strike by Tyler Spurgeon (16th) and Andrew Michael Yogan (17th) within 90 seconds brought the deserved lead of the Tiroleans, who scored twelve shots in the starting third. The Viennese also used their first over-the-counter game to equalize Riley Holzapfel at the beginning of the middle section (21st).
After that, however, the Goalies did not let anything happen, with Vienna’s goalkeeper Jean Philippe Lamoureux shining with several parades and a total of 35 saves. That’s why the second game in Innsbruck went into overtime, as in the previous year. At that time, the Viennese only had the game in the 104th minute. In the second minute in her favour, this time they succeeded
Austria’s record champion KAC was decisive in the ice wave of Bolzano from the outset, but needed exactly 16 minutes for Manuel Ganahl’s lead goal. However, the South Tyroleans managed to equalise the score before the first break with a dream goal from Anton Bernard: The 28-year-old wing player hit the bar (19th) with his back to the goal from a sharp angle.
The guests from Klagenfurt quickly put this setback away and increased the score to 3:1 by goals from Thomas Hundertpfund (30th) and David Fischer (36th) before the second break. In the finish Bolzano took the goalie for an additional attacker from the ice four minutes before the end, but Mike Angelidi’s 2-3 lead by 81 seconds to the final siren was not possible.
Zagreb seemed to be the sure winner after 30 minutes and three mid-section goals within 3:15 minutes. But Linz made the match even more exciting with two quick powerplay goals from Sebastien Piche (33rd) and Brian Lebler (34th), who narrowed it down to 2-3 within a tight minute. However, at the beginning of the final period, Sondre Olden raised the score to 4-2 (41-2) and thus broke the resistance of the Upper Austrians, who later took another double hit (46-47).