Table leaders Red Bull Munich started the new year in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL) with a difficult victory at the Eisbären Berlin.
The champions, threatened with relegation, sniffed the surprise for a long time at 2: 3 (0: 2, 2: 1, 0: 0) on matchday 38, but in the end they were left behind for the 24th time this season.
The Augsburg Panthers were able to benefit from this. The direct competitors in the relegation battle won a wild game against the Grizzlys Wolfsburg 7:6 (2:0, 3:1, 1:5, 1:0) after extra time and put the polar bears in the first non-relegation zone on the pellicle. The Panthers were leading 6:2 until the middle of the last third, before the Grizzlies started a furious race to catch up, which ended with the equalizer in the final second. In the extra time, however, Augsburg struck again.
Kölner Haie win a derby
At the top end of the table, the Mannheim Adlers gained a 2:1 (0:0, 1:0, 1:1) win over the Schwenninger Wild Wings and are thus hot on the heels of ERC Ingolstadt, third in the table, who also did the same with the Nuremberg Ice Tigers hard-fought 3:2 (1:1, 1:1, 0:0, 1:0) after extra time. National player Daniel Pietta redeemed the ERC after almost two minutes played in overtime.
The Kölner Haie kept the upper hand in the 238th derby against Düsseldorfer EG and moved up to one point in the table with the 5:2 (2:1, 1:0, 2:1) in the Rhenish rivals.
Meanwhile, the Iserlohn Roosters kept their chance of a play-off participation alive with the 5: 3 (1: 1, 2: 1, 2: 1) against the Löwen Frankfurt. The Bietigheim Steelers remain at the bottom after losing 0:5 (0:2, 0:2, 0:1) to the Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven.