The men's national team lost the first of two games against France. In the one with 4.503 Fans At the sold-out EisArena Wolfsburg, a 3-0 lead wasn't enough for national coach Harold Kreis' team and they ended up losing 3-5 (3-1, 0-3, 0-1).
Right from the faceoff, the French tested Philipp Grubauer, who started in the German goal today, with the first shot on goal of the game. On the other side, the German players also had their first opportunity, but only hit the post. With the first power play after four minutes played, Dominik Kahun made it 1-0 after a pass from JJ Peterka and Mario Zimmermann. In the second power play, Wojciech narrowly missed Stachowiak when he hit the side netting. After twelve minutes, Frenchman Anthony Rech won a running duel for the puck and came close DEBgoal at the end, but Grubauer confidently parried the shot. Two minutes before the break, the French goal rang twice: First, Parker Tuomie scored after a quick combination from his own zone to make it 2-0 (18th minute). Just 17 seconds later, Maxi Kastner deflected a shot from Alexander Ehl for the next German goal (19th) and increased the score to 3-0. Just 13 seconds before the break, Hugo Gallet reduced the score to 3-1 for the French.
The guests were able to improve in the second third and now had more to counter the German game. This became increasingly clear as the game progressed, even though Justin Schütz narrowly missed a great opportunity in the 25th minute after a perfect pass from Stachowiak. The French goalie Julian Junca distinguished himself with a save that was also worth seeing. It remained 3:1. After 30 minutes, national coach Harold Kreis changed the goalkeepers as planned. Mathias Niederberger came on for Grubauer. After 33 minutes, Enzo Guebey's slap shot from the blue line made it 3-2 for the French. Lucien Onno managed to equalize the score at 3-3 (38') quite by chance when a cross pass from his skate slipped unstoppably into the goal. And Stéphane Da Costa turned the game around for the French in the 39th minute when he was able to drive quite unhindered across the slot and score the French's fourth goal.
After changing sides again I tried that DEB-Team tried to equalize the 3:4 deficit and had good scenes again in the power play at the beginning of the third period, but failed again due to the French goalie Junca. Around five minutes before the end of the game, the guests missed the decision after a German bad pass was in dire need DEB-Back team took care of it. In this situation, Mathias Niederberger kept an overview and ultimately held onto the target. In direct return, Parker Tuomie had the best chance of equalizing. Junca had initially speculated on a cross pass from Tuomie, but he looked for the shot himself, which Junca was still able to hold on to. Anthony Rech finished off the game with an empty-net goal to give the French a 5-3 win.
At the end of the World Cup preparations, both teams will meet again in Weißwasser on Monday evening (19:30 p.m.). This game will also be broadcast live and free of charge on MagentaSport.