The Adler Mannheim had a bad day in the top game against ERC Ingolstadt. The Electoral Palatinate loses the lead in the table and is faced with a new problem.
After the 13-goal spectacle against the Eisbären Berlin Adler Mannheim lost the top game against ERC Ingolstadt 2:5 (0:2, 0:1, 2:2). Peter Abbandonato (2nd minute), Jakin Smallwood (7th), Alex Breton (37th), Philipp Preto (42nd), Abbott Girduckis (45th) sealed the defeat that cost Mannheim the lead in the table. Matthias Plachta (57th) and Nicolas Mattinen (59th) were only able to cosmeticize the results. The new frontrunners are the Kölner Haie, who won their holiday game against the Fishtown Pinguins 3-0.
Adler Mannheim fell behind early on
The first third clearly went to the guests. Mannheim let ERC Ingolstadt play and Upper Bavaria used the space to take the early lead. It took just 73 seconds for Peter Abbandonato to push the puck over the line for the first time (2nd minute). Even afterwards, the Eagles were unable to prevent Ingolstadt from quickly bridging the neutral third again and again and using the resulting space for their own attacks. With the expected result: Jakin Smallwood scored Ingolstadt’s second goal (7th). Mannheim then got into the game better and almost scored in the last minutes of the first third. But Nicolas Mattinen only hit the crossbar with his slap shot (20). The Eagles went into the break with a 0-2 deficit. “We just slept in the first third,” said Yannick Proske on the “Magenta” streaming service.
The 12,593 spectators had to wait a while for the second third to begin. A crack in a plexiglass pane behind the goal required lengthy repairs. Mannheim then started the second third with more vigor, always establishing themselves in front of the Ingolstadt goal and creating chance after chance. Because Marc Michaelis (28th), Lukas Kälble (29th), John Gilmour, Kris Bennett (both 31st) and Zach Solow (34th) all missed the goal and Adler keeper Maximilian Franzreb let Alex Breton’s shot (37th) slip through his legs, Mannheim had to make up a 0-3 deficit in the final third.
Adler Mannheim can be countered
Whatever they had planned for the final third, it went wrong. Because Philipp Preto (42nd) and Abbott Girduckis (45th) destroyed Mannheim’s hope of turning the game around. At least Matthias Plachta scored a consolation goal (57th). In the final phase, Leon Gawanke got into a fight with Myles Powell after a crosscheck – the game was then over for both of them. Mannheim used the advantage resulting from the cross check to make it 2:5 through Nicolas Mattinen (59th).
Before the away game at the Augsburger Panthern (Sunday, 7 p.m.), the Adler Mannheim have to work on their defense. It was the second game in a row in which coach Dalles Eakins’ team conceded five goals. In total, the Kurpfälzer team have conceded 18 goals in the last four games – unusual for the best defense in the league.
