THW Kiel lost a point to HSV Hamburg while Rhein-Neckar Löwen never allowed any relief for Bergischer HC in the relegation battle. TSV Hannover-Burgdorf stopped the negative trend to two losses with 27–26 over SC Leipzig.
There was plenty of Bundesliga action Friday evening, to allow for more attention on DHB-Pokal during the weekend.
Frederik Bo Andersens second goal in the game concluded the scoring session with 28–28. Hamburg had other heroes, the goalkeeper Johannes Bitter saved Niclas Ekberg´s penaslty attempt with seven seconds to go and Casper Mortensen made another nine goals to strengthen his podium spot in the top scorer list.
The duel of the north was a very entertaining game, but Kiel clearly lost the upper hand when a four-goal-margin was reduced to a single point in the final 15 minutes.
Bergischer´s team effort wasn’t enough to scare Rhein-Neckar Löwen in SAP Arena. Instead Juri Knorr and Tobias Reichmann added to the misery of the second to last team in the tables. Bergischer is five points behind ThSV Eisenach when six rounds remain, Rhein-Neckar Löwen has position ten with a realistic chance to finish top eight.
Uladzislau Kulesh´s buzzer-beater became a clear difference between Leipzig and Hannover-Burgdorf. The man of the match for the guests produced eight goals before the winning shot. Effectively, Kulesh might have drawn the line behind seventh place, Hamburg can only look upwards with a seven points margin and rank eight Leipzig will have to enter defending mode to stay on the top half until the end of 2023/24.
Bundesliga
HSV Hamburg–THW Kiel 28–28 (15–16)
SC Leipzig–TSV Hannover-Burgdorf 26–27 (12–12)
Rhein-Neckar Löwen–Bergischer HC 35–29 (19–16)