Release from 09.03.2024

Record: Thomas Raffl scores for the third time in the first three games of a series

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EC Red Bull Salzburg captain Thomas Raffl has scored in all three quarterfinal games against the Steinbach Black Wings Linz so far. It is the third time in his long career that the 37-year-old has scored at least one goal in each of the first three games of a series. No player has ever achieved this since the league was founded.

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A total of 34 players have already managed to score in the first three games of a playoff series. With Andrew Kozek (2019, 2020), Stefan Geier (2017), Ryan Duncan (2011, 2015) and Thomas Koch (2007, 2009), four players have already achieved this twice. Stefan Geier even in two consecutive series. Only Thomas Raffl has even managed to score three times in the first three matches of a series. As a result, the 37-year-old is the sole record holder as of Thursday evening. The Villach native even scored a brace in the 5:1 home win against the Steinbach Black Wings Linz. Raffl also scored in the 4:0 opening win to make it 2:0 and he scored in the 2:3 defeat in Linz to make it 1:2 in the meantime.

Raffl has already scored in the first four games of a series
Raffl managed to score in the first three games of a series in the 2012 quarterfinal against the KAC and in the 2014 final. In the final series against Bolzano, the forward even scored in the first four games. Raffl was only denied a goal in the deciding game for the championship, which Bolzano won in Salzburg in a dramatic overtime. In addition to the six-time champion, Stefan Geier (2017), Riley Holzapfel (2017), Gregor Baumgartner (2012), Michael Craig (2009) and Thomas Koch (2009) also managed to score in the first four games of a playoff series. No player has ever managed to score in the first five games of a series.

Watch game four of the series in the PPV livestream on www.live.ice.hockey from 18:00.