With an enormous team effort, Red Bull Munich defeated Rögle Ängelholm 2-1 to move into top spot in Group B. They were led by two goals from former CHL MVP Trevor Parkes in the second period, got great goaltending from veteran Danny aus den Birken throughout, and didn’t suffer the same pitfalls that befell the team in the last minute of their previous meeting in Sweden.

Munich thought they’d scored in the third minute and the home fans cheered but the apparent goal was cancelled by a quick referee’s whistle. In fact, Munich held a decisive edge in play through the opening 20 minutes, helped by a couple of power plays, but neither team scored.

After being back on their heels for much of the first period, Rögle came out with better energy early in the second period and had some chances, but couldn’t capitalize. The best chance went to Tyler Kelleher less than five minutes in, but he hit the crossbar.

They would come to rue the missed opportunities when Munich opened the scoring in the 29th minute. Ben Street led the rush into the attacking zone and dropped a pass to Parkes He made a move and, despite being hauled down, managed to send a backhand past Calle Clang.

Patrick Hager had a great chance to extend the lead on a breakaway. He was denied by Clang, but the play led to a penalty and a Munich power play, which led to Parkes’ second goal of the period. It came on a deflection of a one-time shot from the point by Zachary Redmond.

In the last 20 seconds of the middle frame, Rogle had a great chance to get on the board on a 2-on-1 break but aus den Birken came up with his biggest save of the night, tracking the cross-ice pass.

Once again, Rögle came out strong to start the third period and this time cashed in on the powerplay. Moving the puck around, Ludvig Larsson took a pass at the point from Mattias Sjögren, and he sent a wrister through a crowd that beat everybody, including aus den Birken.

There were still more than 15 minutes to play at that point, but Rögle didn’t seriously threaten again, and even had trouble finding an opportunity to get Clang out of the net in the last two minutes, as Munich had them pinned in their own zone.