Straubing Tigers defeated Ingolstadt 4:1 in the DEL on Thursday, 25 September 2026, at 17:30 local time. The hosts claimed their first points of the campaign with a result that defied expectations. To be fair, nobody saw this coming, not even those tracking the league closely.
We had backed the visitors for victory with 42 per cent confidence. The prediction went astray. And here's the thing — Ingolstadt's recent form suggested resilience, but tonight they found themselves second to everything on the ice.
Both sides enter the standings with zero points after two matches each. Straubing sit 13th while Ingolstadt occupy 10th place. The gap remains theoretical at this stage, but the momentum has shifted decisively.
Straubing's recent record reads like a cautionary tale: losses to Krefeld, Berlin, Montfield, and České Budějovice in their previous five outings. They were second to everything, to be honest. By then, however, something clicked in this fixture.
Ingolstadt showed flashes earlier with a 4:3 win over Iserlohn and a 5:1 victory against Nürnberg, but they cannot afford another slip. This defeat extends a pattern of inconsistency that will worry their supporters.
The Tigers clawed their way back from a string of heavy defeats. A sell-out crowd witnessed something they had not come to see for a while. The result keeps the DEL wide open at the top.
