Frölunda’s Joel Lundqvist rakes polar bear Marco Nowak here Photo: City Press GmbH
From BZ/dpa
The Eisbären Berlin also lost their second game in the group stage of the Champions Hockey League (CHL) against the top Swedish team Frölunda HC from Gothenburg.
On Thursday evening, the German ice hockey champion lost to the four-time CHL champion 2: 3 (0: 1, 2: 1, 0: 1). Marco Baßler and Matt White scored for the capitals, who did not reward themselves for a strong fighting performance.
In front of 2230 spectators in the Corrugated Blechpalast, the Swedes put the home side under pressure from the start, Tom Nilsson scored for the guests after 89 seconds. After that, the polar bears rarely became a threat, but with great defensive effort they managed to prevent further goals from being conceded until the first break.
After the restart, the capitals also increased offensively and were rewarded with Baßler’s equalizer. Christian Folin put the visitors back in the lead, but White responded with an overnumbered goal for the polar bears.
In the final section, the Berliners survived a double manpower situation and then gave the Swedes a balanced encounter, but did not use their chances. Instead, Ryan Lasch scored the visitors’ winning goal 38 seconds before the end of the game.