A goal with less than a second remaining in the third period by Jacob Mayenschein gave Red Bull Munich a 3-2 home-ice victory over the Malmö Redhawks, giving the two-time reigning German champs a three-point lead atop Group B.

Heading into the game, both teams were tied with nine points each, but due to different tiebreaking scenarios, Red Bull Munich had already qualified while the Malmö Redhawks’ magic number was one. During the course of the evening, Yunost Minsk’s loss in Turku guaranteed Malmö’s advancement, leaving these two teams to decide who would be the winner of Group B and who would be runner-up. And in a game where the teams were as evenly matched as their records indicate, it went right down to the last possible moment for one of the teams to take the maximum points.

Before his last-second heroics, Mayenschein opened the scoring halfway through the first period, backhanding in a rebound after Frank Mauer’s point shot. Fredrik Händemark tied it for Malmö in the 28th minute on a one-timer from the slot to finish off a nice tic-tac-toe passing play. Then the teams traded goals again within four minutes of each other in the third period – Maximilian Kastner for Munich and Carl-Johan Lerby for Malmö.

It appeared the game was headed for overtime, but a pair of late Malmö penalties gave Munich some momentum, and even after they both expired, they continued to press hard in the attacking zone in the final minute. In the dying seconds, Konrad Abeltshauser sent the puck to the front of the net and Mayenschein fought off a check to re-direct it in as time expired. Following a video review, it was ruled a goal to give the Red Bulls the regulation victory.