ICE Hockey League

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Salzburg defeated league leaders Fehervar.(Bild: GEPA)

The champions clearly won the duel with the current leaders of the ICE Ice Hockey League. Two days after the 5:0 win in the Champions Hockey League against Pelicans Lahti, Red Bull Salzburg won 5:1 at Fehervar on Friday. In the day's other key game, runners-up KAC won 4:0 at third-placed Graz99ers.

Salzburg took the momentum from their impressive CHL round of 16 win to Hungary. Against the best defense in the league, the special teams paved the way to victory. Benjamin Nissner shorthanded (15th) and Dennis Robertson on the powerplay (25th) gave the Bulls a 2-0 lead. After the third goal by Vadim Schreiner (28) and the 1:3 (38), Ryan Murphy secured the win with a brace in the final period. Fehervar suffered their second defeat in the last 13 games and remain two points ahead of HCB Südtirol.

"We defended strongly against the attacks of the best offensive team in the league. We created good offensive chances from that, capitalized on overpays, but also defended a number of short-handed games," said a satisfied Salzburg coach Oliver David.

KAC snatch three points in a sold-out arena
The team from Graz could have pulled to within two points of Bolzano with a home win in the Pack derby. However, after three recent victories with 17 goals, they suffered their biggest home defeat under coach Harry Lange in the Merkur Eisstadion, which was sold out for the first time this season with over 4,000 fans. David Maier with a deflected shot (4th) and Nick Pastujov in the first overtime game (16th) put the KAC 2:0 ahead. The 99ers then pressed, but KAC goalkeeper Sebastian Dahm saved all 38 shots on goal. As a result, only Klagenfurt were able to continue celebrating thanks to Fabian Hochegger (37) and Jan Mursak (53).

Clear away wins for Linz and VSV
The Innsbruck Sharks also suffered a home debacle with a 6-0 defeat against VSV. After the early 1:0 by Guus van Nes (8th), Kevin Hancock, Benjamin Lanzinger and Alexander Rauchenwald each scored twice within twelve minutes in the middle third. The duel for fifth place was decided by the Black Wings Linz with a 4:1 win at Olimpija Ljubljana. Julian Pusnik (7.), Brian Lebler (44.), Logan Roe (47.) and Gregory Moro (56.) put Linz 4-0 ahead against their favorite opponent, who they defeated for the eleventh time in a row, before the Slovenians scored. The Black Wings secured their place in the top 6 with their fifth win in a row.

The Vienna Capitals made amends for their poor home performance last weekend (1:4 against Vorarlberg) and subsequent heavy criticism with a win in Bruneck. Christoph Kromp (11th) scored the only goal of the game against the Pustertal Wölfe. The Pioneers Vorarlberg were beaten 1-0 at home to Asiago after extra time, missing out on the chance to knock the Italians off the red lantern.