The German ice hockey champion Eisbären Berlin is still in deep crisis in the DEL. The Berliners lost in a basement duel at home to the Iserlohn Roosters 2:4 (0:2, 1:1, 1:1) on Friday evening and are still in 13th place in the table (21 points) after twelve defeats from 19 games.
Behind the polar bears are only the Augsburg Panthers and the Bietigheim Steelers. In a direct comparison, Augsburg won 2-1 (0-0, 1-0, 1-1) on Friday and gave up last place to Bietigheim (16) with 17 points.
In the chasing duel, the Adler Mannheim won 5:2 (1:0, 0:1, 4:1) at ERC Ingolstadt and secured second place behind leaders Red Bull Munich with 40 points. Last year’s runner-up (44) had already won 2-1 at Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven on Thursday. Ingolstadt (37) remains third.
The polar bears botched the start and were already 3-0 behind in the early stages of the second period after goals from Kristopher Foucault (6′), Ryan O’Connor (17′) and Kaspars Daugavins (26′). Frank Hördler (26th) and Julian Melchiori (45th) provided new hope, but Iserlohn’s Casey Bailey (55th) made the decision.
In Ingolstadt, Mannheim’s Thomas Larkin (goal and assist) and Mark Katic (two goals) were the most conspicuous players. However, the Adler victory was so great because the guests hit the empty net twice in the final minute.