Clearly inferior in places, but thanks to a lot of effort it almost worked: The Tölzer Löwen come closer to leaders Kassel Huskies after 0: 3 and 1: 4, but then lose 3: 5.
Kassel / BadTölz
- The front runner's grapes were quite high.
But by renewed exertion, the Tölzer Löwen made it exciting again yesterday in Kassel shortly before the end: Already clearly beaten with 0: 3 and 1: 4 and in places clearly inferior, they hung on again fully in the final phase.
Reid Gardiner and Mario Lamoureux shortened to 3: 4.
The lions had tasted blood and were pressing for compensation.
But Lois Spitzner hit the empty goal after Max Franzreb had cleared his box in favor of a sixth outfield player.
Finally made it exciting again
"I'm proud of the team that actually fought their way back," said Löwen coach Kevin Gaudet.
One had the impression, however, that the front runner could divide his forces very precisely.
The four rows of people from Kassel always increased the pressure and speed when it threatened to get precarious.
However, that was hardly the case until the final phase.
The Lions managed to get off to a relatively balanced start.
They kept putting needle sticks.
But much more than a slap shot in the catcher hand of Gerald Kuhn from the free standing Sasa Martinovic and a shot on the post by Marco Pfleger was not possible.
The Huskies always put a bit of speed up, impressed with fast passing and direct deals, forced the Lions to make mistakes and - after a quarter of an hour - to a penalty.
In the power play Joel Keussens hit from the blue line behind Franzreb in the Tölzer Kasten - 0: 1.
The lion keeper had previously prevented a deficit with good saves.
The hosts had more of the game, won most of the face-offs, had more shots on goal and were dangerous with almost every action if they showed up in front of the Tölzer box in a flash.
This was also the case at the beginning of the second period, which from Tölzer's point of view got off to a very bad start: With the first action, Olsen made 2-0 with a seamless wrist shot - Andreas Schwarz faked the shot untenable.
And it got even worse: Philipp Cornet refueled in front of the gate, relied on huskies captain Denis Shevyrin.
He thrashed the puck to make it 3-0.
"At the back we were vogelwuid", admits Tölzer Luca Tosto, who also admitted a "stupid penalty" before the 0: 1.
Franzreb sometimes felt left alone, and took his anger out on his innocent bat.
Exchange of blows in the final phase
For the coach it was clear: "If you are 3-0 down it will be very difficult against a team like that." But in fact, after the third goal, the guests really hung on, it was an open exchange.
Of course also because Kassel took out some gas.
Manuel Edfelder and Marco Pfleger could have shortened for Tölz, Huskies newcomer Philippe Cornet, but above all Clarke Breitkreuz alone in front of the gate, however, could also have extended the lead of the Huskies.
It was not exciting after Pfainer's goal, because Lukas Laub restored the old lead shortly after the 1: 3.
It got exciting in the final phase because the Tölzer team never gave up, although they only played with 14 players.
Strong actions by Pfleger as well as the two newcomers actually brought the lions up to two minutes before the end of a goal.
But the huskies did not let themselves be disturbed - also because they remembered the Friday evening in Bietigheim.
Since they lost after a 4-2 lead in extra time.
This time they did better, Ryan Olsen grabbed the disc at the crucial moment, put it in forward gear on Spitzner, who sealed the Tölzer defeat with the 5: 3 into the empty goal.
Kassel Huskies - Tölzer Löwen 5: 3 (1: 0, 2: 0, 2: 3)
Goals: 1: 0 (14:33) Keussen (Burns / Cornet, 5-4), 2: 0 (20:33) Olsen (Burns / Spitzner), 3: 0 (25:18) Shevyrin (Müller / Cornet) , 3: 1 (48:03) Pfleger (Gardiner), 4: 1 (51:53) Laub (Cornet / Trivino), 4: 2 (52:26) Gardiner (Pfleger), 4: 3 (58:01) Lamoureux (Dibelka / Pfleger), 5: 3 (59:38) Spitzner (Olsen), - penalty minutes: Kassel 2, Tölz 6, - referees: Bruce Becker, Sven Fischer.