Match report
The Red Bulls started as planned. They made the play and hardly let Vorarlberg into their own third. However, they waited with one man at the blue line and were thus able to launch dangerous counterattacks. David Kickert shone twice in goal during these quick forays (7th and 8th), but he had to let Brady Gilmour's solo effort (10th) pass. The Red Bulls continued to press after that, but for a long time without creating any compelling chances. The pressure only increased noticeably in the final minutes. Troy Bourke took a shot from half-right (15th), Ryan Murphy produced two strong shots from the slot and the disc kept crossing in front of Feldkirch goalie David Madlener, who kept a clean sheet in the first period.
Shortly after the restart, Thomas Raffl equalized right in front of goal after a picture-book pass from Benjamin Nissner (21'). But the home side now did more in offense, David Kickert saved two top chances (24th, 28th). Shortly afterwards, the Red Bulls took the lead (30') after Peter Hochkofler scored on his 30th birthday in the power play. But the Pioneers stayed on the ball and turned the game back in their favor with a double strike. Luca Erne (32) and Joshua Passolt (34) both scored under the crossbar from almost identical positions from the left-hand side. The home side were thus one goal ahead after 40 minutes.
And they continued. The Red Bulls continued to create chances, but the Pioneers also forced David Kickert to make further saves. Then an open exchange of blows began. Ross MacDougall scored for the Pioneers in the power play (47'). Troy Bourke tied the scores again shortly afterwards (49'). Joshua Passolt scored again for the Pioneers (49'), Thomas Raffl promptly scored again to make it 4:5 (50'), the last two shooters each scoring a brace. And Peter Schneider finally fixed the equalizer with a lot of traffic in front of the goal (54.) and shot the Red Bulls into overtime. Ryan Murphy fired a hammer shot from distance during a 4:3 power play to secure the Red Bulls a hard-earned extra point in Feldkirch.