After the overtime success in Vienna, the Steinbach Black Wings travel straight to the next difficult away test. There is a strong team waiting in Ljubljana that will be difficult to crack, especially in their own stadium.
For the first time since November, the Upper Austrians were able to score their first goal yesterday on foreign ice. The Capitals fought their way into overtime, but Graham Knott secured the two important points for the Stahlstadters. The next test awaits the Linz team away from home today. The green dragons have had a mixed season so far and continue to experience ups and downs. Nevertheless, head coach Ben Cooper’s team is in fifth place in the table with 62 points.
Balanced balance sheet
The previous duels with the Stahlstadters were evenly matched and both teams were able to win their home games. Since the last meeting at the Linz AG Eisarena at the end of November, the Slovenians have celebrated eight wins from 16 games. In December they fell into a bit of a slump in form and had to admit defeat to Pustertal, the Pioneers and Bozen. The new year didn’t start as expected either: three of four games in 2026 were lost. Just the day before yesterday there was a clear 1:5 defeat against the reigning champions from Salzburg.
The Linzers are nevertheless warned about the home strength of the Slovenians, who have only been defeated six times in front of their own audience this season. Another great strength of the Dragons is their power play: with a success rate of 26.56%, they lead the league-wide ranking. The Slovenians also showed themselves to be very stable in penalty killing and are in fourth place with an efficiency of 82.26%. If you look at the shots and saves statistics you will also find the green dragons at the top. This is mainly thanks to Lukas Horak, who acts as reliable support with a catch rate of 91.8%. The most dangerous man on the offensive is Nicolai Meyer, who has already recorded 44 scorer points (17 goals, 27 assists), but was recently not in the squad due to an injury.
Locker room update
The Upper Austrians finally got off to a good start again. Brian Lebler and Co kept the score running well and controlled the game for long stretches. However, there wasn’t much time to enjoy this important victory. The personnel situation provides positive news: Gerd Kragl returns to the squad after his injury break and is available to Linz for the first time in weeks.
www.blackwings.at, Photo: Hannes Draxler/Black Wings Linz
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