Four teams had the chance to take first place in the Erste Bank Ice Hockey League on Sunday at halftime of the basic run. But the Graz 99ers didn’t let him take it. The Styrians, who had taken the lead in the 22nd round, declassified Medvescak Zagreb 6:0 and lead the EBEL with two points ahead of the new second KAC.
The team from Klagenfurt finished as defending champion HCB South Tyrol with 4:1. Vienna Capitals lost in Innsbruck with 3:4 after penalty shootings. Red Bull Salzburg defeated Znojmo 6:2 and is now only two points behind Bozen and the Caps. The Black Wings Linz won against Fehervar 4:2, Dornbirn won against taillight VSV 3:2.
The Graz side continued their run of success against Zagreb in their own stadium and celebrated their tenth victory in their eleventh home game. Matt Garbowsky (13th) and Colton Yellow Horn (14th) laid the foundation stone for the 99ers’ highest victory of the season in the first third. “I was very angry after the Friday game in Linz (2:5), we were bad. I was expecting a reaction, and it came. We put a lot of pressure in all three thirds and kept up the pace with four rows,” said coach Doug Maosn.
The KAC gave the currently stumbling champion from Bolzano no chance in the Schlager. After 98 seconds the team from Klagenfurt took the lead, after the excellent first third (4:0) the fifth victory in a row was out of the question. Bolzano, the leader of the standings a week ago, slipped to third place with their third consecutive defeat.
Capitals lost ground from the top and have been without a three-point point since 21 October. Innsbruck went into the first break with a 1-0 lead, the Caps turned the game in the middle third with three goals. But the sharks still managed to equalize in the finish in the power play, survived a sub-payment game in extra time and had the better end in the penalty shootout for themselves.
Not even 24 hours after their success over the Caps, Salzburg finished the winning streak of Znojmo, who had recently won five games. The clear success, however, deceived over the narrow course of the game, the bulls only with three goals in the last quarter of an hour made everything clear.
The Black Wings Linz celebrated their sixth home victory in a row against Fehervar to the delight of the 4,600 spectators. Lebler and Co. consolidated their sixth place in the table with their unchallenged success and now have a four-point advantage over Innsbruck. In Dornbirn, the away misery of the VSV continued, which is still without a point even after eleven games in foreign halls.