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Nurnberg are looking for their sixth consecutive win

After five rounds, Nurnberg are deservedly the league leaders. They are finally healthy, they look great and, are major favourites in tonight's match

In our season preview we announced Nurnberg as a very serious team and one of the shadow title contenders. They definitely justified that label so far. They won all five matches this season and are currently lying in first position of DEL league.

After beating the top teams Cologne, Ingolstadt, Hamburg and Eisbaren in the first four roounds, Nurnberg won a very tough visit to Augsburg on Friday. They took the lead after only 3 minutes of play through Ehliz, and further extended the lead through Kaufmann by the first break. It was a period of total domination of Nurnberg players and we could say the hosts could have got hurt even worse. The second period was much more level. The home team reduced their deficit to only one goal twice, but Nurnberg soon retaliated with new goals through Stastny and Kaufmann again. James extends to 5-2 after 37 minutes and that was practically the deciding goal. The home team managed to crawl back to 5-3, but were never in a position to put Nurnberg victory in doubt. Reimer put an end to everything at the very end by scoring to an empty net. 

- Tonight's match gave us a lot of joy. You cannot relax in Augsburg , even if you are leading 5-2. When Augsburg score, their fans keep them alive. This is one of the hardest away matches in the league and we are happy we are returning home with three points - said Nunberg coach Tray Tuomie. 

Nurnberg have been looking good so far. They are healthy and that is their biggest plus. Their attackers Stastny, Kauffman, Reiprecht, Reimer i James are excellent individuals, whereas the defence is led by the league's best goalie Weiman. If injuries bypass them, they will be very very dangerous. They will be missing only Streiger tonight, which means they are hugely favoured to get their sixth consecutive win. 

Straubing didn't manage to avoid their fourth loss in five matches on Friday. They hosted Munich. The first period was pretty equal, but the visitors ended up in the lead. Sebastian Osterloh equalized after 27 minutes, but the home fans' joy lasted for only 24 seconds. That was how long it took the away team to respond to Straubing goal and take the lead again. However, not even two minutes later Karl Stewart equalized in a 5-on-3 situation. 2-2 was the score when we enterred the last two minutes of play. With 97 seconds to go, Straubing best player Blaine Down scores their third goal,  and it seemed it was the winning goal. Everything was ready for a major celebration, but the visitors pulled their goalie and managed to equalize with 33 seconds to go and take the match to overtime. The mentally broken Staubing were inferior in overtime, but managed not to concede. Penalty shootout followed, where the visitors were more competent, so they took the remaining point.

- It is disappointing to lose a match when you conced in the last attack. But in spite of that, I am satisfied with our play tonight against an excellent opponent - said Straubing coach Dan Ratushny.

Straubing are travelling to Nuremberg without their injured defender Jordan Henrdy. They can play without any pressure since the pressure is on Nurnberg's side. The hosts are a much more quality team at this moment, but Straubing are an unpredictable team with excellent individuals that can't be written off easily. 

Nurnbergs players are destroying everything in front of them. Quality was newer in question with them, but they were seldom all healthy and complete to confirm that. They are complete this season and the result is five wins in the first five matches. They're looking good and I'm convinced they'll continue with the wins on their home turf tonight against Straubing, a team which does not play so good in away games.