Course of the game
In the opening minutes, the Red Bulls (Ryan Murphy had to withdraw at short notice with an upper body injury) rarely got in front of Ljubljana's Lukas Horak, but also withstood the home side's good attacks. Almost against the run of play, Peter Schneider gave the Red Bulls the lead with a slightly wide-angle shot from half distance (11'). The Slovenians equalized in a game that then became more open, Rudolf Cerveny scoring under the crossbar from the face-off circle in the power play to make it 1:1 at the break (16'). The teams went into the dressing rooms with a fair draw after a rather heated final phase.
In the second half, Salzburg took control of the attacking play and pressed forward. An initial powerplay failed to have the desired effect, Ljubljana's Ziga Pance even managed a solo run while short-handed, but he was put under decisive pressure (26'). Lucas Thaler did better, who was also outnumbered in the slot and took the lead again with a hook past the goalkeeper as he fell (28'). The game now went up and down, with Salzburg's goalkeeper Atte Tolvanen also having to make repeated saves. Especially in the minutes that followed, when the Slovenians were able to establish themselves in the attacking third and bombarded the goal with shots. It was only in the final minutes that the Red Bulls broke free again and took the 2:1 lead into the second break.
In the final third, the Red Bulls fended off the Slovenians' impetuous opening minutes and came close to scoring the next goal in the ensuing powerplay (from the 43rd minute). The Slovenians then went into turbo mode and created several top chances, but Salzburg's defense stood firm. From around the 50th minute, the Red Bulls pulled the game apart again and it was up and down. However, the Red Bulls did not allow themselves to be infected by the hectic atmosphere, continued to play confidently and hardly allowed the pressing home side to create any real chances. Marcel Mahkovec's best chance from close range (59') was saved by the strong Atte Tolvanen and then the Red Bulls were delighted with their next hard-earned 3-pointer in Ljubljana.