They still don’t have a CHL win to their name, but Cracovia came perhaps the closest to it yet with a solid performance against Red Bull Munich and a 2-1 defeat before an appreciative home crowd in Krakow.

Cracovia smartly employed a defensive strategy against the more talented Bavarian squad, limiting them to just 26 shots on goal the whole game. Munich did get a goal at 14:04 when Jonathan Matsumoto deflected Daryl Boyle’s low point shot past a sprawling Rafał Radziszewski. However, that was all for either team over the game’s first 40 minutes.

With 13:36 remaining in regulation time, Munich connected on the power play on Dominik Kahun’s big slapper to make it 2-0. At that point, one got the feeling that it might be over, as Cracovia didn’t seem capable of scoring twice in the remaining time. However, that theory was called into question in the next two minutes when Patrick Hager was called for slashing and Damian Kapica scored from a tight angle on the power play and suddenly, with 11:34 to go, it was a one-goal game again.

And Cracovia even got another power play after that and put some pressure on, but couldn’t beat Danny Aus den Birken again. They did, however, draw the admiration of their passionate fans, who sang and cheered throughout. As for Munich, they are happy to escape with their perfect record still intact with three tough games still ahead of them.