Kolner Haie shut out Herning Blue Fox 3-0 in regulation, with the game effectively settled inside the opening six minutes of the middle period. Two goals from Patrick Russell and a clean sheet did the rest.
Russell opened it at 16 of the first period off a Marcel Noebels feed for a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. Cologne then came out of the intermission and scored twice in six minutes - Maximilian Kammerer at 21, assisted by Markus Ljungh, and Russell again at 26 from Ryan MacInnis - for 3-0 after two. The third period produced no goals from either side.
Russell's two-goal night accounts for both of Cologne's bookends, and all three Haie goals came from three different setup men, Noebels, Ljungh and MacInnis. Herning never got on the board across the full 60 minutes.