Black Wings: Despite all odds

What a game, what a victory! The Steinbach Black Wings have returned in an impressive manner in this ice hockey best-of-7 quarterfinal series. When the final siren sounded at 9:23 p.m. in the Linz AG ice arena, which was packed with 4,515 fans, the 1-1 equalizer was a done deal and the 4-0 opening defeat was finally forgotten. The EHC defeated the reigning champion Red Bull Salzburg 3:2 (1:0, 1:2, 1:0) after a heroic fight.

It continues on Thursday (7:15 p.m., live ticker on nachrichten.at) in the Volksgarten in Mozart’s city, where Philipp Lukas’ team wants to pick up where they left off yesterday.

The Wings fought vehemently against all resistance – and that meant not only the high-quality opponent, who lost their top scorer Peter Schneider to injury in the second third, but also a great mental challenge.

The Upper Austrians defended excellently for long stretches, they skillfully closed the center and only allowed the “Red Bulls” a few top chances. In addition, in contrast to Game 1, the EHC did not allow themselves to be provoked; just six penalty minutes are bearable. But the final moments of the second period could have broken other teams. Salzburg only needed 6.9 seconds to turn a 0-2 deficit into 2-2 (40th).

Such a thorn runs deep. But during the break the Linzers rallied and struck the decisive blow. Captain Brian Lebler was there after a Roe shot and made it 3-2 in the power play (45th). “How the team dealt with this setback fills me with pride,” said Coach Lukas: “We got through it, I’m happy. It was an emotional victory. We’ll take it with us, but we won’t look back.”

“Oh, that’s nice” and “The EHC rules here” boomed through the upside down hall in which they brought Nico Feldner in front of the curtain as “Man of the Match”. The 25-year-old gave the Wings a dream start. The man with number 74 scored after exactly 74 seconds to make it 1-0. A special moment, especially since the Tyrolean native wore the Red Bull jersey from 2013 to 2021. He learned his craft at the prestigious Salzburg Academy.

“We were really motivated and had a good speech from Brian (Lebler, note). That’s what makes it fun,” emphasized Feldner. The 2-0 (39th) went to Logan Roe, who even scored when he was outnumbered. Then Salzburg struck back, but Linz had the last word.