Ice cold: Emilio Romig shot the Black Wings for the series lead

While defending champion Red Bull Salzburg after the 2-1 win in the 76th minute after extra time over Fehervar with a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 series, only one win separates them from the ice hockey semi-finals, the winner of the regular season is hanging HC Bolzano on the ropes.

That’s because the Steinbach Black Wings fly higher than many gave them credit for. Yesterday, Linz made the break in front of 3870 eyewitnesses in the supposed Palaonda fortress. After the 2:1 (1:0, 0:0, 1:1) win, the EHC surprisingly leads 2:1 and enjoys home advantage on Tuesday (7:15 p.m.).

“It was and remains a tough fight, we did a good job, everyone gives everything, we bring emotions with us, this is our chance against this opponent who probably has more quality,” said Emilio Romig, who won for the second time in a row Match winner was on the Wings side.

On Friday, the striker from Vienna had fixed the 2-1 final score at the Untere Donaulände in the 53rd minute, today Romig scored the direct hit on South Tyrolean ice to make it 1-0 (20th) – five seconds before the first third break – and 2 :0 (42nd). The 30-year-old was there in a flash after a rebound from the not always safe Bozen goalkeeper Sam Harvey. If it’s going, then go.

Outstanding shorthand game

That was a real hit for the “Foxes”, who can no longer rely on their home strength. The self-sacrificing and sure-pass Black Wings ended a negative series of eight defeats en suite in the Palaonda, the first success since December 1, 2019 could be worth its weight in gold in the final accounts.

Because now Bolzano is under a lot of pressure – even if each of the previous three play-off duels was on a knife’s edge. The HCB might have imagined the whole thing to be easier, yesterday the team, which was made up of 16 North Americans, got caught up in one-on-one duels again and again.

Provocations and scuffles were the order of the day, Linz (without Daine Todd and Michael Haga) conceded a total of 16 penalty minutes, but was outstanding when outnumbered.

Not least because Wings goalie Rasmus Tirronen acted brilliantly again and defused 37 shots. Only when Matt Frattin (56th) scored the second goal did the Finn have bad luck. Firstly, he lost his stick shortly beforehand, secondly, the puck coming from the rink landed in the net via Tirronen’s shoulder. That’s manageable when you win.

“I found our game to be very good, but the many penalties are not a good recipe in the long term. We have to get that under control,” said coach Philipp Lukas in an interview with OÖN editor Markus Prinz.