Basic round winner KAC was unable to use the first “match puck” in the ICE quarter-finals and suffered a 1:6 home defeat against Pioneers Vorarlberg. Red Bull Salzburg made it to the semi-finals. The defending champion beat Black Wings Linz 5-1 in the fifth game of the best-of-seven series and secured promotion with their fourth win. HCB Südtirol also won the series against VSV 4:1 after a 2:1.
The KAC fell behind early after conceding a goal from Oskar Maier (9th). However, the home team’s neck was only broken during a weak phase in the middle third. Luka Maver (32nd), Joonas Oden (33rd), ICE top scorer Steven Owre (37th) and Michael Pastujov (38th) scored within just over six and a half minutes. The majority of the 4,393 fans in the Klagenfurt town hall were shocked. A good omen for the KAC, however, is that in its play-off history it has never given up a 3-1 series lead. This means that the Carinthians’ lead in the duels is now only 3:2. Fehervar also earned exactly this lead with a 5:3 at home against the Pustertal Wölfe. The home team prevailed again in the fifth game. The next games follow on Wednesday. If no decision has been made yet, games number seven will take place on Friday. The semi-final series starts on March 19th.Salzburg kept a clean slate. Troy Bourke (5th) and Nicolai Meyer (12th) laid the foundation for Salzburg’s victory in front of 3,003 spectators in the ice arena. In the second period, Benjamin Nissner (27th) and Mario Huber (37th/PP) increased the score. After Shawn St-Amant’s consolation goal (45th/PP), it was up to Huber to finish off the game with his second goal (46th). This meant that Salzburg kept a clean slate and also won the fourth play-off series duel with Linz. This means that Salzburg have always been in the last four since 2013. Thomas Raffl spoke to “Puls24” about a “big step in the right direction” with regard to the season’s goal of defending their title. It was a tough series. “One or two games could have gone the other way,” said Salzburg’s captain. There was no room for exuberant joy. “You can be happy about the victory, but one eye is already on the next series,” emphasized Raffl. Linz striker Andreas Kristler, on the other hand, was dejected and “very disappointed to go down here like that.” The Villach team had recently shown another sign of life with a 6-1 home win, but were unable to improve on the away game. In Bolzano, Felix Maxa’s equalizer (29th) was the only result. A short time later, Christian Thomas (32nd) became the match winner for South Tyrol.
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