Adler Mannheim vs. Nuremberg: Ice Tigers’ Losing Streak – DEL News

By Rainer Kundel

Mannheim. At the beginning of the last quarter of the main round, the Adler Mannheim faced the Nürnberg Ice Tigers. A nine-year home series against the Franconians came to an end on November 2nd when the guests took the points from the SAP Arena for the first time after 21 defeats with a 4-2 win.

A result that apparently gave the long-time points supplier courage for the second guest appearance at the “Ufo”, so that their 4:2 (1:0, 1:1, 2:1) win on Friday evening against the disappointing favorites was also deserved.

After three weeks in England, Adler coach Dallas Eakins used the last few days to “work on our game a little more, as it was all about load control recently.” Against the 10th-ranked team, Eakins called for “good puck management”, while captain Marc Michaelis was confident that he would “continue on last weekend’s good job”.

In terms of personnel, we had to improvise a bit. Due to the failures of Kühnhackl, Penkin (both until March) and Reichel and Bicker (short-term), a complete four rows of storms were not available. Therefore, depending on the situation, different strikers rotated to Home and Proske.

The Eagles struggled to build pace and create combinations. Because the opponent was forechecking with two men and the passing stations were often missing. The best results of the first 20 minutes were metal hits by Plachta (1st minute) and Mattinen (17th).

In between, Nuremberg took the lead when offensive defender Owen Headrick (12th) was able to shoot from half-right into the far corner after winning a face-off. Seconds before the end of the period, Michaelis was unable to convert a puck steal from Schütz in front of the Nuremberg goal area.

Before the hosts could readjust their game, they were already 0-2 behind after a lightning combination via Murray and Barratt by Jakob Weber. After the goal – Kris Bennett (28th) hit the crossbar under the crossbar at full speed – the second period became very disjointed.

The special teams demanded penalty times on both sides, and Mannheim’s third majority of the evening didn’t work either. On the other hand, the undernumbered team did a self-sacrificing job, especially when the Nuremberg team had the opportunity to extend their lead 52 seconds into the double majority.

The final third also began with a bang. Heigl evaded Kälble, Charlie Gerard converted the follow-up shot (41′). The prompt answer, again from Bennett (12th goal of the season), was followed only by a brief flicker with another unused advantage. At the end, Gawanke missed the target, which paved the way for Eham to make the final score 2:4.

The Mannheim team started the new year very weakly with two home defeats from three games.

On a side note: Assistant coach Jochen Hecht (48) was missing from the Nuremberg bench. Meanwhile, Mannheim’s first NHL player (1998-2012) was at the 20th anniversary of the conference finals of his former club, the Buffalo Sabres.

Adler Mannheim – Nuremberg Ice Tigers 2:4 (0:1, 1:1, 1:2)

Tore: 0:1 Headrick (12.), 0:2 J. Weber (25.), 1:2 Bennett (28.), 1:3 Gerard (41.), 2:3 Bennett (44.), 2:4 Eham (53.)

referee: Gofman (Berlin), Rohatsch (Lindau)

Penalty minutes: 8/10

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