Fighting for their playoff lives, there was no place like home for the Rouen Dragons in Champions Hockey League group action on Wednesday night. A raucous crowd welcomed the THOMAS SABO Ice Tigers to France looking to deny the visitors from Nuremberg the one point they needed to secure qualification in the CHL Playoff Stage. Rouen came into the game needing to win two in a row against Nuremberg and after tonight, they are halfway there.

The teams took a while to get going in the first frame but once they found their footing, the action was end to end. The best chance of the period was created by Nuremberg captain Patrick Reimer when he put on a stick handling clinic in the Rouen zone, leaving multiple defenders on their backs. Daniel Weiss one-timed the pass from Reimer towards a gaping net only to see Dragons netminder Matija Pintarič slide across to deny the chance.

Rouen applied pressure early and often in the second period. Nicholas Deschamps had a breakaway chance foiled when the puck hopped off the blade of his stick and ended up trapped in the pads of netminder Andreas Jenike. Shortly after, with the teams 4-on-4, Nuremberg forward Christopher Brown slapped a bouncing puck between the legs of Pintarič to give the Ice Tigers a 1-0 lead against the run of play. However, Deschamps, flying down the right wing, equalized for the Dragons just 1:20 later on a quick-release wrister from the top of the circle that tickled the twine behind Jenike. For stretches, the Dragons looked dominant on home ice but Jenike was larger than life, making 18 saves in the period to keep it tied.

The Nuremberg faithful in attendance found their voice just two minutes into the third period when defenseman Brett Festerling sent a shot into traffic that ended up behind a screened Pintarič as a result of a deft tip by William Acton to make the score 2-1 for the visitors. But the Dragons weren’t ready to give up on this CHL campaign and drew life from their supporters who blew the roof off of the arena when Joel Caron cut inside at the top of the circle and saw his wild shot attempt deflect off of the defender’s stick and into the top corner of the net, tying the game at two.

A late penalty against Nuremberg’s leading scorer, Brandon Buck, cost the Tigers the point they needed as Deschamps finished off a pretty backdoor pass from Loïc Lampérier to give the hometown Dragons a lead they wouldn’t relinquish with only 23 seconds left in the game. Anthony Guttig would add an empty-netter to seal the victory.

Despite a valiant, 39-save effort from Jenike, the Ice Tigers failed to clinch and the second spot in Group F will be decided on Gameday 6 in Nuremberg when these two teams meet again.