Duel for top position in standings on Sunday

Pregame facts of Sundays games of round 6:

• Five games of the sixth round are scheduled. On Thuesday (19.15) the game between HC TWK Innsbruck “Die Haie” against HCB Südtirol Alperia will follow.
• The game between Vienna Capitals and EC Panaceo VSV will be broadcasted live by www.servushockeynight.com.
• The Vienna Capitals remained unbeaten after five games and they will face EC Panaceo VSV looking for their sixth victory of the season. If Vienna loses, the Dornbirn Bulldogs can retake the top position in standings.  
• The EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz and KHL Medvescak Zagreb are looking for their first home win of the season, while EC Red Bull Salzburg tries to celebrate its first victory at all. 

Sun, 30.09.2018: EC Red Bull Salzburg – Fehervar AV19 (16.00)
Referees: BULOVEC, TRILAR, Pagon, Seewald.

• The EC Red Bull Salzburg is still waiting for its first victory of the new season. After they have opened the season with three losses, they gained their first point at Innsbruck on Thursday. Anyway, they lost after overtime and remain last in standings. 
• But Salzburg improved on the offensive end last game: after only three goals in the first three games, the Red Bulls scored five times in game four of the season.
• Salzburg won the last three battles against Fehervar. The Hungarians booked a win at their first meeting past season. 
• Fehervar AV19 started well into the new season: They gained four wins out of five game and defeated Dornbirn for the first time of the season on Friday. They are ranked fourth in standings. 
• The Red Bulls should avoid shorthanded situations: Fehervar is the best team of the league in power plays so far. The Hungarians made 5 goals out of 15 power play situations. 

Quotes:

Thomas Raffl, EC Red Bull Salzburg: „We have often been in similar situations and have to go on the ice with heads held high. Now we have to show that we have a good team.“

Hannu Järvenpää, headcoach of Fehervar: “We can be happy for a day but when Sunday comes, we have to keep our skates on the ice. Red Bulls have a really good hockey team and the standing right now lies big time. I still believe in our chances to surprise strong home team in Salzburg on Sunday. Practicing good habits and being humble will be a key against them, and if I am honest, I have a feeling that Salzburg is the favorite there and we are the underdogs but we are ready to surprise.“

Sun, 30.09.2018: Vienna Capitals – EC Panaceo VSV (17.30, www.servushockeynight.com live)
Referees: GRUBER, PIRAGIC, Gatol, Hribar.

• The Vienna Capitals captured the lead in standings on Friday with a 2:1-victory against Graz and also benefited from the first loss of Dornbirn this season. Only the Caps remained unbeaten with 14 out of 15 possible points. 
• Together with Dornbirn the Viennese offer the best goal difference so far +12 (20GF/8GA).
• Their defensive performance and goalie Jean Philippe Lamoureux are responsible for the great season start. Vienna received only 1,6 goals per game, Lamoureux demonstrated his strengths while saving 93,8%. 
• On Sunday the EC Panaceo VSV will have its second road game of the season. They lost their first away game in Graz 2:4 in round three.
• The home team prevails the last six games. The last win of Villach in Vienna is about two years ago (9th October 2016).
• The current roster of VSV contains four players who were in Vienna past season. Jamie Fraser, Jerry Pollastrone, MacGregor Sharp and Felix Massa return for the first time. Besides, Villach threatened the failure of Nikolas Petrik (upper-body). 

Quotes: 

Benjamin Nissner, Stürmer der Capitals: „You can not underestimate Villach. They have a lot of young, talented players. But if we continue like we did in the first five games, we will have a positive end.”

Jamie Fraser, defender of VSV: “It will be a tough road game. The Capitals are leader in standings and won all games so far. But Fridays win against champion Bozen gave us a boost and we will try everything to keep the momentum going.”

Sun, 30.09.2018: EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz – HC Orli Znojmo (17.30)
Referees: BERNEKER, ZRNIC, Kontschieder, Nothegger.

• The EHC LIWEST Black Wings Linz and the HC Orli Znojmo each fight for the end of their negative series. While the upper Austrians are focused on their first home win, the Czech side is looking for their first victory of the season. 
• Linz won the last four home games against Znojmo. The Czechs celebrated their last road win in Linz more than two years ago (24th March 2016). 
• At the last meeting of these two teams (3rd January 2018, 6:3 road win for Linz) Brian Lebler (3G) and Corey Locke (3A) scored three points each. 
• The Black Wings struggled on the offensive end so far: Only 6,3% of their shots on goal were successful. The “eagls”, who played only three games, have a scoring efficiency of 8,9%. 
• But the upper Austrians are the only team of Erste Bank Eishockey Liga remaining perfect in penalty killing: They overlapped 23rd shorthanded situations. 

Quotes:

Stefan Gaffal, forward of EHL: „It would be great if we can take an early lead against Znojmo, but than we need to be more active. Leaning back is not an option on Sunday.”

Miroslav Frycer, Headcoach of ZNO: “Our performance on Friday was simply unacceptable. We must be 100% better tomorrow in Linz and this is something I fully expect of my players.”

Sun, 30.09.2018: Dornbirn Bulldogs – EC KAC (17.30)
Referees: BAUER, KELLNER, Pardatscher, Schauer.

• Second ranked Dornbirn Bulldogs host third ranked EC KAC. Dornbirn, which suffered its first defeat of the season on Friday against Fehervar, could captured the lead in standings again. In addition, they need a loss of Vienna to claim the top. The Carinthians have the chance to take over the second spot.
• Dornbirn won three of four games against KAC past season, including two home wins. 
• This game is a face off of the league’s top defensive teams: While the Bulldogs received nine goals out of 5 games so far, the KAC conceded eight goals in four games. 
• But both teams show power on the offensive end, while being very effective in front of opponent’s net: With a scoring efficiency of 14,4% (DEC) and 12,6% (KAC) both teams are ranked in the top-4.
• Dornbirn is struggling with its performance in power play situations: They scored only one goal out of 15 power plays. So far, the KAC used about 25% of its power plays for a goal. 

Quotes: 

Joel Broda, forward of DEC: “KAC is good team. They got a lot of speed and skill. It will be a good test for us again to show where we are at the league. We will be ready.”

Robin Gartner, defender of KAC: „We became better and better during preseason and the first games of the season, because we were able to implement our plays. The coordination of the individual parts of the team works quite well. We have a good balance and look stable for much of the time, which makes it difficult for the opponents to score. To maintain this, we have to fight and work hard every game. Our opponent had a great season start as well and is in a good shape.”