KAC turns semifinal series with overtime win

In the fifth game of the series Alexander Pallestrang and Matthias Trattnig returned to Salzburg's lineup while Thomas Hundertpfund made his comeback for Klagenfurt. Mark Popovic fired the first shot goalwards after six minutes and this was a starting signal. Soon later Red Bulls netminder Bernhard Starkbaum made a great save on Thomas Koch's one timer and then Patrick Harand missed the open net with a backhander. Jamie Lundmark failed after a solo attempt but in this situation a penalty was called against the hosts. The Carinthians took advantage when former RBS player Marco Brucker opened the scoring for a 1:0 visitors lead after 20 minutes. After the restart Salzburg was not able to get a shot on goal with a two men advantage but it was a battle at eye level now. While Harand missed a breakaway because of Starkbaum, the Red Bulls tied the game with Ryan Duncan (36') netting on a rebound. KAC was not shocked and retook the lead even before the second intermission when Steven Strong lit the lamp. Salzburg came out hard in the third and entered the offensive zone with good speed most of the time. Thomas Raffl could not overcome David Madlener twice and then the KAC netminder was lucky with the Red Bulls only hitting metalwork. With five minutes to go Bill Thomas finally tied the game with a power play marker but the Carinthians bounced back with a man advantage on their own: First Ziga Pance came close, then Jamie Lundmark fired it home for a 3:2 lead. The home side risked everything, pulled their goalie and were rewarded when Duncan poked the puck in - 3:3, overtime. Both teams tried to end the extra session early and finally Ziga Pance became the hero. After a solo attempt he was only stopped by foul and on power play he converted a great pass by Thomas Koch.