Next defeat: Now the wolves are panting behind

While Asiago landed an overtime victory in Vienna in the long-distance duel for pre-playoff qualification, HC Pustertal suffered the next setback. The Wolves lost 1500-1 to Red Bull Salzburg in front of just 2 fans at the Intercable Arena. As a result, coach Tomek Valtonen's team slipped out of the top 10 in the league.

So one thing is certain: The Wolves now have to chase after the competition from Asiago and Graz, which has also played fewer games than the HCP, and try to catch them in the remaining eight rounds. Otherwise there is a risk of an early end to the season.

In order to avert this, Dan Catenacci & Co. have to be much more aggressive, more determined and more concrete than they were on Sunday evening against Salzburg, who were ailing. They had no offensive power. Defensively, however, they allowed far too much freedom, especially in the slot, which is why the Bulls were able to fire a whopping 47 shots at the strong HCP backup Jake Smith. One reason for these deficiencies that evening was the absence of defensive rocks Wyatt Ege and Emil Kristensen, as well as top scorer Olivier Archambault.

The key scenes Salzburg's Dusel Even the goalscorer doesn't know how the thing went in: Nissner shoots from an impossible angle, the puck somehow bounces off Smith's shoulder and into the net - 1-0 for Salzburg (25th). Pustertal's pressure The Pusterer power play has a lot of room for improvement. There was an exception towards the end of the middle third, when the HCP, in the majority, built up real pressure for the first time and created three top chances within 20 seconds. Andergassen's Deflection Willcox sends the disc towards the goal with a harmless wrist shot, Andergassen lightly touches the rubber with his trowel – and the score is 1-1 (43'). Smith's heroic deed With an incredible save, Smith, who is lying on the ground, scrapes the puck out of the goal with his stick after a Wukovits shot. The fans celebrate the action like a goal – and rightly so! Thaler's poker After a shot from Schneider, there is wild poking and prodding in front of the HCP box, and Thaler finally pushes him in. It's the 2-1 winning goal, and in the remaining 13 minutes the Wolves chase the equalizer in vain. After the duels against the top teams from Bozen and Salzburg, the Wolves now have a week to fill their reserves of strength. They won't continue until next Sunday with their guest appearance in Linz. The HCB, who extended their league lead on Sunday with a home win against Fehérvar, travels to Innsbruck for the top game on Friday.

HC Pustertal – EC Red Bull Salzburg 1:2 HCP: Smith (Sholl); Willcox-Plastino, Pavlin-Althuber, Glira-Spencer, March; Ahl-Harju-Hannoun, Roy-Catenacci-Bardaro, Sanna-Andergassen-Deluca, Mantinger-Berger-De Lorenzo Coach: Valtonen

RBS: Tolvanen (Kickert); Robertson-Lewington, Genoway-Stajnoch, Stapelfeldt-Schreier; Mario Huber-Nissner-Loney, Harnisch-Wukovits-Schneider, Paul Huber-Baltram-Thaler, Auer-Nikolaus Heigl-Thomas Heigl Coach: McIlvane

Gates: 0:1 Benjamin Nissner (24.30), 1:1 Raphael Andergassen (42.48), 1:2 Lucas Thaler (46.34)

Viewers: 1489

The other results: Bolzano - Fehérvar 3:1 (click here for the report) Goals: 1-0 Mitch Hults (8.27), 2-0 Miceli (21.23), 3-0 Gazley (35.48); 3:1 Vertes (56.01) Audience: 3525

Vienna - Asiago 5:6 aet Goals: 1:0 Wall (1.41), 1:1 Moncada (5.13), 1:2 McShane (12.32), 2:2 Gregoire (24.42), 2:3 Simpson (25.19), 3:3 Zimmer (34.44), 3:4 Moncada (35.49), 3:5 Gazzola (37.15), 4:5 Kainz (53.38), 5:5 Wall (58.36), 5:6 Finoro (63.12) Audience: 4050

Innsbruck - Klagenfurt 2:3 Goals: 1:0 Feldner (2.22), 1:1 Bukarts (20.28), 2:1 Ulmer (27.05), 2:2 Postma (32.55), 2:3 Bukarts (45.11) Audience: 2800

Villach - Ljubljana 5:3 Goals: 1:0 Lanzinger (2.23), 1:1 Kapel (10.43), 2:1 Rivett-Mattinen (24.45), 3:1 Rivett-Mattinen (31.11), 3:2 Vallerand (35.24), 3:3 Crnovic (41.31), 4:3 Collins (54.00), 5:3 Rivett-Mattinen (58.33) Audience: 2848

Vorarlberg - Linz 3:4 Goals: 1:0 Jarusek (5.50), 2:0 Maver (8.56), 2:1 Roe (24.10), 2:2 Brucker (25.49), 2:3 St-Amant (33.51), 3:3 Jacome (48.21 ), 3:4 St-Amant (56.50) Audience: 1516

The table: SP G U V TV P 1. HCB South Tyrol 40 30 0 10 142:86 87 2. Salzburg 38 27 0 11 115:73 81 3. Innsbruck 40 26 0 14 155:124 80 4. Villach 39 24 0 15 143:119 70 5. Linz 38 22 0 16 111:97 65 6. Vienna Capitals 38 19 0 19 122:113 61 7. Klagenfurt 39 21 0 18 109:98 60 8. Fehervar 38 18 0 20 96:93 57 9. Asiago Hockey 37 15 0 22 102:128 42 10. Graz99ers 39 14 0 25 78:113 42 11. HC Pustertal 40 13 0 27 98:116 41 12. Olimpija Ljubljana 36 11 0 25 92:137 33 13. Vorarlberg 38 10 0 28 73:139 31

ICE Regular Season ICE	SP	TV	P
1. Klagenfurt	47	183:101	102
2. Fehervar	46	146:126	89
3. Salzburg	46	142:107	87
4. HCB South Tyrol	46	137:125	76
5. Linz	46	146:116	75
6. Villach	46	155:136	74
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Next defeat: Now the wolves are panting behind

The playoff train threatens to leave without HC Pustertal. The Bruneck team suffered their third defeat in a row on Sunday evening and thus lost valuable ground in the table.

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