With the self-confidence of the best World Cup tournament start since 2011, the German national team went into the atmospheric duel with hosts Slovakia 24 hours after the 4-1 victory over France.
While the DEB-Selection had achieved an excellent starting position in Group A with nine points from three games, a success was essential for the Slovaks to remain in the race for a place in the quarter-finals.
National coach Toni Söderholm included defender Benedikt Schopper in place of Dennis Reul. In goal, Mathias Niederberger made his third appearance at the current World Cup, while the injured Philipp Grubauer was not on the scoresheet. Lean Bergmann joined the squad as the 13th striker.
As expected, World Cup hosts Slovakia came thanks to the loud support of the home team.Fans with a lot of energy on the ice. From the start, the German national team resisted the attacks, which repeatedly led to minor “differences of opinion” in front of Niederberger’s goal. As the third progressed, the game calmed down noticeably. They also survived a situation when they were outnumbered DEB-Selection harmless before Matthias Plachta (14th) almost took the lead.
In the second period, the German team took the lead with Marc Michaelis' first World Cup goal (24th). The game turned around when the Slovaks first scored a double power play through Andrej Sekera (29') and another power play goal from Libor Hudacek (30') with four German players on the ice. A few minutes later she had DEB-Selection itself played a four-minute power play in which Toni Söderholm's team created several chances to equalize. But the Slovakian goalkeeper Marek Ciliak was able to save each time.
In the final period, Yannic Seidenberg in particular had a good chance to equalize in the 48th minute. Six minutes later, Moritz Seider had to be treated and taken off the ice after a hard check on the boards by Ladislav Nagy. He was then unable to continue the game. Two minutes before the end, Markus Eisenschmid scored the much-celebrated equalizer with a shot under the crossbar. Leon Draisaitl made it 27-3 with 2 seconds left and thus secured the last minute/comeback victory DEB-Selection. The fourth victory in the fourth game for the German team!
The national team has two game-free days at the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Slovakia on the agenda before the next double match day.
On Saturday, May 18, 2019, the DEBselection on Canada (16.15:19 p.m.). On Sunday, May 2019, 16.15, the opponent is the USA (1:XNUMX p.m.). Both games will be broadcast live on SPORTXNUMX.
Toni Söderholm, national coach: "There was a lot in the game today. Big compliments to our opponents, who played very well today and made the game very difficult for us. I can only praise our boys for the fight. We got a boost in the final section and then came back strongly. Great morale from the whole team!"
Moritz Müller: "It was a big battle today! We played a good first third, but then lost the thread in the middle period and conceded goals after the penalties. After that, it was difficult for us to create our own scoring opportunities. It lasted until the end. Then Eisi and Leon were able to land those two pinpricks."
Markus Eisenschmid: "The Slovaks got off to a very good start. With their home crowd behind them, they dominated the game at times. It was important that we stuck with it and continued to play our hockey. In the end, these are three very important points for us!"
You can find all the statistics for the game HERE!