From BZ/dpa
The Eisbären Berlin can continue to hope for the playoff participation in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL)!
On Friday evening, the German champions won 4: 3 (2: 0, 2: 1, 0: 2) at the Augsburg Panthers. Matt White, Marco Nowak, Giovanni Fiore and Leonhard Pföderl scored for the capital city, who narrowly won after a 4-0 lead.
Before the last main round match day, the polar bears are still two points behind the tenth Löwen Frankfurt. In order to get into the playoffs, the defending champion needs a home win against the Schwenninger Wild Wings on Sunday and is dependent on the Frankfurters dropping points against Augsburg at the same time.
In front of 6179 spectators in the sold-out Curt-Frenzel-Stadion, the strong and highly concentrated guests dominated the game from the start. White gave the Berliners the lead after a counterattack, Nowak increased it with a powerplay hit six seconds before the first break. Even after the restart, the capitals were clearly superior at first. Fiore and Pföderl increased their lead with their goals before Sebastian Wännström was able to shorten the lead for Augsburg.
The hosts now managed to make the encounter more balanced. Because in the final section David Warsofsky was the majority and Matthew Puempel scored for Augsburg, the polar bears even had to worry about the important success in the end.