Ice hockey play-off

Bulls show where the champions are at home

Beautifully played out: the 4:1 by defender Genoway (left).(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

Salzburg hit back immediately in the ice hockey quarter-finals, playing Linzer to the wall in a 5:1 win in the Eisarena. Captain Raffl scored the important 3:1 and also scored the final goal. The series is now 2:1 in favor of the David Boys.

The Eisbullen got off to a perfect start - as expected without the injured Schneider - in game three of the quarter-final series against Linz in the Eisarena. After just 51 seconds, captain Raffl raced towards goalie Tirronen on the counter-attack and Stajnoch could only foul - Bourke executed the penalty to take the lead. And less than five minutes later, Mario Huber made it 2:0.

Well deserved for Salzburg, who controlled the game but often missed the goal with their shots and had to go into the cool box several times. This included Thaler at the start of the middle third, when Linz, who were anything but a force against the Bulls in the powerplay, scored the final goal. This reignited the game.

Until Raffl scored the important 3:1 after a Murphy-Stangl pass. Fierce after that: Visiting captain Lebler fouled Nissner on the boards, the ice bull was groggy for a moment - but came back out of the dressing room. After that, it was just the Bulls playing, showing the undisciplined Linzers where the champions are at home.

"We executed the game very well, came back after the defeat in Linz," summed up Bulls coach Oliver David. Goalscorer Mario Huber: "We did what we set out to do, skated more and played faster."

Sobering for Linz coach Philipp Lukas: "It wasn't a good evening from us and for us. No consistency, no discipline - we can't compete with them like that."

KAC also made it 2:1 in the series, dispatching Vorarlberg 7:0 at home. Bolzano already lead 3-0 against Villach, while Pustertal reduced the deficit to 1-2 at home against Fehervar.