Kolner Haie beat Frolunda HC 5-2 in regulation, and the third period was the separator: three goals in a 20-minute stretch turned a one-goal game into a comfortable one. Cologne led 1-1 after the first and 2-1 after the second before the game broke open.
Frederik Storm opened at the 5th minute off a Jan Luca Sennhenn feed, and Noah Hasa answered a minute later with Henrik Tommernes assisting. Daniel Fischbuch made it 2-1 at 30 minutes, then Marcel Noebels scored at 45 and 48 to push it to 4-1 — the turning point. Liam Dower-Nilsson pulled one back at 50, and Cologne closed it at 60.
Noebels was the difference with two goals inside four minutes, set up first by Patrick Russell and then Valtteri Kemilainen. Four of the five Cologne goals came after the intermission mark of the second period; Frolunda managed one goal in each of the first and third.