Course of the game
The Red Bulls went into the encounter in Székesfehérvár at the new Alba Arena with league returnee Scott Kosmachuk in their ranks, but without Florian Baltram, Niki Kraus, Nash Nienhuis, Ali Wukovits and Chay Genoway. Both teams put up an even fight at a high level. The home side pressed early on in a power play, but the Red Bulls were immediately on the attack. Mario Huber had the first chance directly in front of goal (6th). Then the first emotions came into play, the game was already hot in the first period. David Kickert in the Salzburg goal had to save a number of really good shots and was on his toes. In the 12th minute, the Red Bulls were lucky when Gergö Ambrus missed the half-open goal with a follow-up shot. However, the Red Bulls took the lead in another short-handed game, with scorer Benjamin Nissner and Peter Schneider beating Hungarian goalie Rasmus Reijola in spectacular tic-tac-toe style (15th). The 1:0 lead at the break had to be saved by David Kickert in a pressure phase of the home side and a final tumult of all players on the ice.
In the second period, the Red Bulls increased their lead in a power play. Dennis Robertson shot from the half-high slot to make it 2:0 (25'). The home side played vehemently forwards, but were largely intercepted by Salzburg's strong defense. The 19-year-old Vadim Schreiner was then cleanly served by Scott Kosmachuk, who scored his first assist, and increased the lead to three goals with his second goal of the season (28'). The game continued to go up and down. Peter Hochkofler missed his chance after a 2-on-1 counter-attack with Mario Huber (31'), at the other end Gergö Ambrus got stuck by the strong David Kickert after a solo run (33'). In the 38th minute, the Hungarians then scored their first goal in the powerplay through Chris Brown (38'). David Kickert then made another brilliant save when the puck had already slipped behind him, and they went into the second break with a two-goal lead.
In the highly exciting final third, the game continued to go back and forth at an unbroken high tempo. Dangerous scenes were created alternately in front of both goals. However, the Red Bulls increasingly gained possession and took the lead again in the power play. Benjamin Nissner extended Ryan Murphy's shot unstoppably (50') and was delighted with his brace. After that, the Red Bulls hardly let themselves be distracted from their path against a rebelling Hungary and Ryan Murphy's goal from an acute angle (58') put the finishing touches to another compact team performance by the Red Bulls and the clear success in Hungary.