In the first half, Hamburg squandered two of their three penalty throws – and conceded several goals after scoring themselves, thanks to Hannover's fast breaks, as goalkeeper Robin Haug, who had been substituted for a 7-on-6 power play, couldn't get back to guard the goal posts in time.
"We score a lot of goals in that fashion, but we also conceded a lot," coach Elias Kofler summarized at halftime regarding the tactics without a goalkeeper – and issued an order for the second half: "We need to transition even faster."
The game remained close, but the HSV defense was even more successful than before in forcing Hannover into errors and inaccuracies.
When Hamburg's stand-in goalkeeper, Mohamed El-Tayar, made a strong save against Justus Fischer and Kaj Geenen finished off the ensuing attack to make it 27-24, HSV took a three-goal lead for the first time in the entire match.
And when the outstanding Jorgensen, after winning the ball, made the score 30-26 with ten minutes to go, the home side never recovered. For Hamburg's left winger Casper Mortensen, who is moving back to Denmark at the end of this season, it was a special game: The 36-year-old played for the Lower Saxony club between 2016 and 2018 and was their leading goal scorer.
