VSV get on the board in the CHL, Salzburg win third match

EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV celebrated their first win in the current Champions Hockey League with a 6:2 home victory over Poland's Comarch Cracovia. EC Red Bull Salzburg claimed a 2:1 win at Ilves Tampere in Finland after a dramatic shoot-out.

11 September 20223 min read

The EC iDM Wärmepumpen VSV celebrated their first win of the current group stage on Sunday with a 6:2 home victory over Poland's Comarch Cracovia.

The “Eagles” made a good start, with Benjamin Lanzinger, via a deflection with 9 minutes played, and Chris Collins, following his own rebound with 11 minutes played, opening up a two-goal lead. The Poles levelled the score by the 45-minute mark – before a Villach double strike within 53 seconds sealed the win.

Elias Wallenta secured the rebound with 49 minutes played, rounded the opposing goaltender and scored. Andrew Desjardins immediately restored the two-goal lead with 50 minutes played. Lindner, with an empty-netter, and Collins with his second goal completed the scoring.

Villach's CHL group stage continues on 4 and 11 October 2022 with matches against Germany's Straubing Tigers.

Salzburg win in Tampere

The EC Red Bull Salzburg picked up points in their fourth group match of the season with a 2:1 away win after a shoot-out at Ilves Tampere, keeping their chances of reaching the knockout stage alive in Group E.

The ICE champions made a perfect start to their fourth group match thanks to an early power-play goal from Thomas Raffl (4/PP1).

In the second period, Salzburg defended while shorthanded for a full ten minutes – and it was not until the final period that they were unable to prevent the equaliser, which subsequently sent the game to overtime and a shoot-out. The shoot-out was dramatic, with the “Red Bulls” prevailing thanks to Troy Bourke only on the 18th attempt.

Salzburg are second in Group E after four games with seven points. The two clashes with current group leaders Fribourg-Gotteron (9 points) on 5 and 12 October 2022 complete the preliminary round.

Salzburg victory against Stavanger

The Red Bulls were without the recovering Ty Loney, Paul Huber and Philipp Wimmer, as well as the ill Dominique Heinrich, for Friday's return match in Stavanger.

Devin Steffler stepped in today, with the 22-year-old defenceman making his CHL debut for Salzburg. After an even start, the Red Bulls took advantage of their first power-play opportunity and took the lead through Thomas Raffl with 8 minutes played.

The home side applied the pressure early in the second period, but after a quick breakaway with 23 minutes played, Peter Hochkofler converted the rebound from Ali Wukovits' shot to make it 0:2. However, Greg Mauldin levelled the score with two goals within a few minutes before the second intermission.

After a scoreless third period, the shoot-out ultimately had to decide the game, and the Red Bulls were ruthless. Ali Wukovits, Troy Bourke and Benjamin Nissner all scored with the first three attempts, while David Kickert stopped everything.

VSV push Färjestad all the way

The VSV already showed significant improvement on Friday compared to the 0:7 defeat in Karlstad and were unlucky when Blaz Tomazevic struck only the post. The Swedes demonstrated their quality, at times forcing VSV onto the defensive, and took the lead in the eighth minute.

The Carinthians fought bravely and had their best chance to equalise in the 29th minute, when Robert Sabolic was narrowly denied by Färjestad goaltender Hilderby on a penalty shot. The visitors increased their lead to 2:0 in the third period, with VSV goaltender JP Lamoureux screened.

The game became tense again just under two minutes from time, when Nicolas Mattinen found the top corner with a powerful shot. The hosts almost found an equaliser too, but Chris Collins narrowly missed in the final minute.

Kasper still on fire

Marco Kasper contributed a goal and an assist to defending champions Rögle's 7:1 win over Fehervar, before adding two more assists in the 5:1 victory against GKS Katowice.