DEG disappointed in the first third
DEG survived Nuremberg’s first power play after a time penalty against Kyle Cumiskey, but then the Ice Tigers took the lead. After Fischbuch lost a disc, Andrew Bodnarchuk ran towards the Düsseldorf goal and put it across to MacLeod (8′), who didn’t give DEG keeper Mirko Pantkowski a chance.
Nürnberg continued to set a high pace and disrupted Düsseldorf’s build-up play with aggressive forechecking. The hosts struggled in front of the opposing goal, Alexander Barta (11th) gave DEG the first good chance with a wrist shot. In the 13th minute Pantkowski slipped a central shot from Schmölz through the schooners – 2:0 for Nuremberg.
A good minute before the end of the first third, Düsseldorf had the chance to catch up: Victor Svensson served Cumiskey (20′) on the far post from the right, but he was denied by the Tigers goalie Alex Dubeau, who was in a good mood. “The Nurembergers run more, play harder, win the duels”, summed up Düsseldorf’s fish book during the break on “Magenta TV”. “We have to make the disc go faster.”
Dusseldorf unleashed in the second third
In the second period, the Düsseldorfers improved significantly and came back into play with a double strike. During the first DEG power play, O’Donnell (26′) overcame Tigers keeper Dubeau with a low shot that went wide of the post. The shot was so hard that Dubeau’s bat, which had apparently already been broken, broke.
DEG equalized seven seconds later: Barta played a pass from the won face-off through the middle to Eder (26′), who ran towards Dubeau alone and put the disc in the top right corner.
Düsseldorf was now on the trigger, had more good chances – and took the lead for the first time in the game: Carter Proft caught the disc in front of their own goal out of the air and passed it through the middle to Macauley (36th), who tunneled Dubeau. Olson (38′) made it 4-2 with a slightly deflected shot from the blue line.
Nuremberg comes up again
In the last third Nuremberg was better in the game and came close again. Friedrich played from the left to Stoa (43′) in the middle, who put the disc past Pantkowski. DEG had the right answer ready. Fischbuch (47′) initially failed with a long-range shot on the crossbar, but seconds later the attacker pushed the puck over the line after a pass from O’Donnell to make it 5:3.
A good nine minutes before the end of the game, Nuremberg reduced the lead to 4:5 when Weber (51st) scored with a one-timer from the right. The Ice Tigers pressed for the equaliser, but DEG fought back and are now traveling to the Cologne Haie derby on Sunday with a tailwind.
Status: 01/13/2022, 21:47