The mandatory task solved with difficulty, but may have lost a key player: 48 hours after the Olympic revenge against Slovakia, the German national ice hockey team won their second win at the World Cup in Finland – but is worried about NHL youngster Tim Stützle.
The team of national coach Toni Söderholm fought in the third group game in Helsinki against outsiders France 3: 2 (2: 1, 0: 1, 1: 0) and thus the next important threesome on the way to the quarterfinals.
Daniel Fischbuch (3rd) in the power play, Alexander Ehl (18th) and Leo Pföderl (46th) scored the goals for the selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) in the time-honoured “Helsingin Jäähalli”. The DEB team had previously won a crime thriller 2-1 against Slovakia, who took part in the Olympics, and lost 3-5 to defending champions and record world champions Canada on Friday.
Alexandre Texier (15th) in the majority and Hugo Gallet (32nd) meanwhile equalized for the Russia followers France, for whom it was the second defeat. After two days without a game, Germany will continue against Denmark on Thursday (3:20 p.m. / Sport1 and MagentaSport).
“You can’t make any mistakes, you have to beat the French first,” captain Moritz Müller warned before the game, emphasizing: “The three points against Slovakia are only worth something if we get something against France.” Söderholm gave his regular goalie Philipp Grubauer a first break after his outstanding performance against Slovakia. But the Berlin champion goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger, who didn’t get his safest day, stood between the posts.
Double neck blow for DEB team
Niederberger hadn’t even intervened when the Düsseldorfer Fischbuch hit ice cold with the first shot after 124 seconds in the first outnumbered situation from the slot. A few moments later, Stefan Loibl’s counterattack was outnumbered by France’s goalie Sebastian Ylonen (4th).
A double blow to the neck followed: after a check against his knee, Stützle hobbled straight from the ice into the dressing room and never came back. On the way there, he also picked up a completely unnecessary penalty for hitting the stick – Texier immediately punished him with a powerful shot in the resulting power play.
Germany loses the thread
The DEB selection was initially unimpressed: Ehl restored the lead with the first World Cup goal of his career and thus rewarded the refreshing and carefree fourth line of attack in all three games so far. Germany dominated the action in the first half of the second period, but after equalizing again, completely lost the thread until the break.
Then Pföderl provided relief in the final section with his second tournament goal.