Course of the game
The Red Bulls, in whose ranks Florian Baltram played his first home game since last season's final series after recovering from a long injury break, immediately took control of the game and exerted constant pressure on the goal of Feldkirch's Alex Caffi. The visitors, who arrived just an hour before the start of the game, defended well and were tight in their own zone, meaning that the Red Bulls shot a lot but were unable to find the gap in the first period. Salzburg goalkeeper David Kickert didn't have much to do yet, but had to be on his guard for the occasional good shot. The good Salzburg moves were already there, the only thing missing was a goal.
The picture changed completely after the break. First, Feldkirch's Brady Gilmour suddenly got on the ice while short-handed, but was stopped by David Kickert (21'). The visitors then played more courageously going forward and promptly took the lead. Lucas Sowder scored a one-timer right into the corner of the net (26'). Shortly afterwards, Peter Hochkofler had the chance to equalize in the slot (27). But the visitors kept going and increased the lead to 2:0 again with Lucas Sowder in the powerplay (30'). The Red Bulls now fought for their chances, and Peter Hochkofler had one of them on the rebound (32'). But the visitors continued to score. Joshua Passolt converted a penalty (34') and Ramon Schnetzer netted after a breakaway while short-handed (36'). The ray of hope at the end of the third period: Benjamin Nissner reduced the deficit to 1:4 after 40 minutes with a backhand from an acute angle (39.).
In the final period, the Red Bulls dominated again at first and shot from all angles. But Joshua Passolt made the most of his solo run and scored for the second time (48'). Salzburg kept the pressure on and circled around the goal. But no matter what the Red Bulls did now, the ball wouldn't go in. Instead, the very efficient visitors scored once more, with Marlon Tschofen converting the follow-up shot right in front of goal to make it 1:6 from Salzburg's point of view, which was also the final score of the game.