The Adler Mannheim have postponed the Eisbären Berlin championship party in the German Ice Hockey League and forced a fifth final game. After a 1:3 deficit, Mannheim turned the game around on Thursday and won 4:3 (0:0, 1:2, 2:1, 0:0, 1:0) after extra time. The series champion from Berlin clearly won the first three duels of the best-of-seven series with 7:3, 5:1 and 5:1. But this time Mannheim was rewarded for great morale.
Luke Esposito scored the winning goal in the fourth minute of the second overtime. In regular time, Lester Lancaster (23rd minute), Liam Kirk (28th) and Markus Vikingstad (47th) scored for Berlin and Nicolas Mattinen (32nd), Zach Solow (53rd) and Alexander Ehl (57th) for the Adler in front of 14,200 spectators in the sold-out arena at Ostbahnhof.
In the duel between the two most successful clubs in DEL history, it is now only 3-1 after victories for the Eisbären, who only finished sixth in the table in the main round. The Berliners can now complete their twelfth championship title on Sunday (4.30 p.m., MagentaSport) in Mannheim.
After the heavy defeats in the first finals, Mannheim tried everything again from the start. Committed and with good energy, this time there was no false start for the runner-up in the main round. Mannheim’s coach Dallas Eakins also surprisingly called up Johan Christer Mattsson in goal instead of national goalkeeper Maximilian Franzreb. The Swede initially kept his goal clean. For the first time in this final series, Berlin, who had to do without suspended captain Kai Wissmann, failed to score a goal in the first third.
This followed at the beginning of the middle section in the majority. With his opening goal, Lancaster redeemed the crowd, who had created a special atmosphere from the start. In anticipation of the new title, many fans came into the hall with made posters or championship trophies. Every action on the ice was accompanied even louder and more intensely than usual. And the party atmosphere became even more intense after the 2:0 and 3:1. But Mannheim fought brilliantly, came back with the advantage and secured extra time, in which the decision was only made in the 84th minute of the entire game.