- Seven different scorers in eventful game
- Langhamer saves 90.32% of shots
- Eisbären unable to make playoffs
A real seesaw game in southern Moravia between Kometa Brno and Eisbären Berlin saw the Czech side come back from two goals down to record a narrow 4-3 win.
The visitors from Germany knew that they had to win this game in regulation to avoid crashing out of the Champions Hockey League with two games still remaining. They duly got an excellent start, Sean Backman at 9:03 opening the scoring. Just over three minutes later James Sheppard doubled that lead and the Eisbären looked to be on their way. The home side had other ideas though and woke up with a pair of goals in just over four minutes. Petr Holík pulled one back at 11:31, then Martin Dočekal tied it with 15:58 gone as he went from his own blueline to finish five-hole.
The visitors ran into penalty trouble during the second period and eventually fell behind. Peter Mueller’s absolute thunderbolt of a shot flew into the net on the 5-on-3. However, Berlin then staged a fightback of their own, with Jamison MacQueen bringing the scores level again with three minutes to go in the middle session.
What the Eisbären didn’t need though was to fall behind again, but they did. Alexandre Mallet restored Brno’s lead with just under three minutes gone in the third. Berlin wasted a 5-on-3 of their own in the middle of the period – a change they really needed to have taken to get back on the board. With just under seven minutes left, the German side were forced into a goalie change as Marvin Cüpper left the game injured and was replaced by Max Franzreb. Two late penalties on Brno gave Berlin a chance to tie it at the death, but they could find the killer play and Kometa held on to the 4-3 win.
