Mandatory task done: SC Riessersee defeated EV Füssen 3:1 on Sunday evening.
Whether the SCR moves directly into the playoffs will be decided on Tuesday evening.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Two basic principles of the sport became apparent on Sunday evening in the Olympic Ice Sports Center (OEZ).
Firstly, that pressure can affect a team's performance.
Of course, that applies in both a positive and negative sense.
At SC Riessersee, however, the latter was the case.
The white-blues presented themselves significantly weaker than in the past games against EV Füssen - coach Pat Cortina saw it that way: "You could tell that the boys were under pressure." But, and that's the decisive thing from the SCR point of view : At the end of the day, sport is about results and ice hockey is no different.
An average performance was enough for the Riesserseers to beat the EVF 3:1 in the duel of the old masters.
SC Riessersee: Marlon Wolf advances to match winner with a brace
On Friday evening in Peiting with the important goal to make it 4:2, Marlon Wolf went one better against Füssen and led his colors to the all-important home win with a brace - the 19-year-old seems to have finally broken the knot.
After benefiting from Aziz Ehliz's fantastic pass to make it 1-0, Wolf had the right instinct at 2-1 and was spot on to dust off the SCR lead again.
In between, the guests from Füssen, who were also anything but outstanding, exploited the Riesersee passivity and scored 1:1.
After the first third, the SCR realized: It can't go on like this.
Coach Pat Cortins' team showed a reaction, dominating the second period.
However, captain Florian Vollmer and Co. failed to increase the result despite several outnumbered situations.
Unchanged picture at the beginning of the third third: The SCR pressed on the third goal, on salvation.
However, both Bastian Eckl and Robin Soudek failed to calm the nerves of the 873 spectators - minus the five Füssener battle loafers - in the OEZ.
The longer the game lasted, the greater the Füssener's belief that they could take something away from the favorites.
The SCR was increasingly pushed onto the defensive and was also weakened by unnecessary penalties.
But it was thanks to the inability of the guests and some courageous defensive actions by the white-blue that the one EVF hit remained.
32 seconds before the end, Luca Allavena (finally) put the lid on it after a pass from Soudek, making it 3-1.
SC Riessersee: Playoff decision will be made on Tuesday
When the final siren sounded, hardly anyone spoke about the game they had just watched.
Instead, tomorrow's Tuesday came into focus.
The Werdenfelsers will follow from the couch what their brilliant final spurt of the season - six wins in a row - was enough for.
The starting position is clear: If Peiting does not win against Passau by at least nine goals and Höchstadt gets no more than one point against the second in the table from Regensburg, the SCR moves straight into the playoffs as sixth in the table and has a week's break.
It would be the reward for a brilliant final phase of the season.