Eisbären Berlin Survive Late Straubing Surge to Win DEL Season Opener 4-2

The banner went up, and then the defending champions went to work. But what looked like a coronation lap for Eisbären Berlin on Thursday night quickly turned into a third-period survival test. Opening the 33rd season of the PENNY DEL in front of a raucous crowd of 13,422 fans at the Uber Arena, Berlin ultimately held off a furious rally from the Straubing Tigers to secure a 4-2 victory. The matchup provided everything a season opener should: high-end skill, physical intensity, and a dramatic momentum swing that kept the outcome in doubt until the final ninety seconds. For a Berlin squad looking to prove they haven't lost a step, it was a necessary early test of their championship mettle.[1][2]

The night began with the emotional raising of the 2026 championship banner, a final tribute to the Serge Aubin era that brought so much success to the German capital. It ended with new head coach Éric Dubois exhaling on the bench after securing his first official win in his new role. Stepping into the shoes of a beloved predecessor is never simple, but Dubois had his squad ready to compete from the opening faceoff. "In the opening period, it was the expected hard battle," the Eisbären organization noted in its official post-game assessment. "Both teams played well. The first goal in the final phase of the period then shifted the momentum to our side," setting the stage for a dominant middle frame.[2][4][6]

That critical momentum shift arrived at 16:27 of the first period. After Straubing's Jamieson Rees and Danjo Leonhardt tested the Berlin defense with heavy early pressure, Manuel Wiederer finally broke the deadlock. Finishing off a crisp passing sequence orchestrated by Brandon Davidson and Morgan Reinke, Wiederer buried the first goal of the 2026-27 DEL campaign, sending the home crowd into a frenzy. The goal rewarded a sustained stretch of offensive zone time for Berlin, who had begun to tilt the ice after weathering Straubing's initial surge. It also forced the Tigers to abandon their conservative road structure and open up the game.[1][3]

Berlin came out of the first intermission looking every bit the gold standard of German hockey. Just 1:47 into the middle frame—officially clocked at 21:47—Liam Kirk doubled the advantage, cashing in on precise feeds from Ty Ronning and Jonas Müller. The defending champions were thoroughly dictating the pace, suffocating the neutral zone and forcing Straubing to chase the puck for long, exhausting shifts. Kirk's finish highlighted the lethal transition speed that makes Berlin so dangerous, as they seamlessly turned defensive stops into high-danger scoring chances at the other end of the rink.[1][2]

Despite the mounting deficit, the Tigers had their chances to claw back into the contest, earning multiple power plays that included a pair of dangerous 5-on-3 advantages. But Berlin goaltender Jack LaFontaine put on an absolute clinic between the pipes. The netminder made a series of spectacular lateral saves, anchoring a penalty kill that refused to break under immense pressure. LaFontaine's heroics not only preserved the shutout bid through forty minutes but also visibly frustrated the Straubing power-play units, who generated quality looks but could not find a way past the sprawling goaltender.[2]

Late in the second period, Berlin appeared to put the game completely out of reach. Ty Ronning capped off a blistering counterattack—brilliantly set up by Kirk—at 36:01, pushing the Eisbären lead to a commanding 3-0. Heading into the second intermission, the Uber Arena was in full party mode, with the home supporters confident that the third period would be little more than a formality. The three-goal cushion felt insurmountable given how well LaFontaine was tracking the puck, and Straubing looked like a team that had punched itself out during those fruitless two-man advantages.[1][2][4]

Straubing, however, flatly refused to play the role of compliant guests. The Tigers ramped up their forecheck in the third period, throwing pucks at LaFontaine from every conceivable angle and crashing the crease with reckless abandon. Their persistence finally paid dividends at 50:35 when Adrian Klein found the back of the net, assisted by Varejcka, to ruin the shutout bid and give the visitors a glimmer of hope. The goal breathed instant life into the Straubing bench, transforming their body language and setting the stage for a frantic final ten minutes.[1][3]

Suddenly, the ice tilted entirely in Straubing's favor. Just over five minutes later, at 56:12, Stefan Loibl struck for the Tigers, capitalizing on the mounting chaos in the Berlin zone. A comfortable 3-0 blowout had instantly morphed into a 3-2 nail-biter. The Tigers had captured all the momentum, and the Berlin defense—playing without suspended captain Kai Wissmann—was scrambling to clear its zone and regain its composure. The Uber Arena grew noticeably tense as the defending champions suddenly found themselves clinging to a one-goal lead against a relentless opponent.[1][3][5]

With just over two minutes remaining in regulation, Straubing head coach Tom Pokel made the aggressive decision to pull goaltender Jakub Škarek for an extra attacker. The Tigers hemmed Berlin in, searching desperately for the equalizer as the clock ticked down. But with 1:18 left to play, Eric Mik gathered a loose puck deep in his own zone and fired it the length of the ice. The puck slid perfectly into the empty net at 58:42, sealing the 4-2 result and allowing the Berlin faithful to finally breathe a massive sigh of relief.[1][2][3]

It was a vital statement win for Dubois and a Berlin blue line that relied heavily on Mik and Korbinian Geibel to eat tough minutes in Wissmann's absence. For Straubing, the late surge proved they possess the firepower and the resilience to push the league's absolute best to the brink, even in the most hostile of environments. Both clubs now turn their attention to the weekend slate, with Berlin heading to Mannheim on Sunday to face the Adler, while the Tigers look to carry their third-period momentum into their next matchup.[2][4][5]