EC Red Bull Salzburg lost 7-2 to the Augsburg Panthers in a friendly. In the last pre-season match, the rejuvenated Salzburg side were already four goals behind the Bavarian side DEL after the first third. Meanwhile, Salzburg reacted up to 2: 4, but were clearly behind in the last third after conceding two more goals at the start.
The Red Bulls have ordered a break for Chay Genoway, Peter Schneider, Ali Wukovits, Florian Baltram and David Kickert in the final test before the Champions Hockey League, which begins next week. The convalescents Troy Bourke, Paul Huber and Philipp Wimmer are also absent. The squad was reinforced with academy players, namely 19-year-old German striker twins Thomas and Nikolaus Heigl and Luca Egger, a 21-year-old from Villach, as a reserve goalkeeper.
The hosts got off to a good start and after two quick goals (2nd, 3rd) took the lead 2-0 at the start. After that, the Red Bulls caught on and played at eye level with Augsburg, slowly approaching the opposing goal and creating the first, if not yet compelling, chances. Goalkeeper Atte Tolvanen went off the ice in the 10th minute with equipment problems, in place of him Luca Egger in his first appearance with the Salzburg professionals. The young Villacher conceded his third goal in the 14th minute, but Atte Tolvanen came back soon after. The team had lost the wire by this point and the Panthers scored just before half-time (19th) in a 2-on-1 counterattack for 4-0 after the first period.
In the second half, the Red Bulls were more compact in defense and played much more in attack. With two or three good shots, mostly from distance, Augsburg goalkeeper Markus Keller had no problems. From the 30th minute, the Red Bulls held out for a minute and a half with a strong defense in a 3: 5 men’s match, after which, the Red Bulls had their best phase up to that point and put serious pressure on them. the defense of Augusta with a lot of traffic. In the 38th minute Thomas Raffl scored Salzburg’s first goal in the first power play with a nice lob under the crossbar. Less than two minutes later Lucas Thaler hit the puck in the air after a rebound and brought the Red Bulls back to two goals.
