North Richland Hills, TX – The Lone Star Brahmas defeated the Amarillo Wranglers in overtime on Friday by the score of 2-1.
The Wranglers and the Brahmas squared off for the fifth time this season over at NTYTEX Sports Centre, with Amarillo carrying a record of 13-8-3-0 on the season and Lone Star a record of 19-6-0-2. This game was Amarillo’s fourth straight on the road and kicked off a home-and-home series with Lone Star.
Connor McDonough got the start between the pipes for the Wranglers. In his first full season as the Wranglers starter he has been outstanding, posting a record of 11-5-2, a 2.33 GAA, a .908 save percentage, and one shutout on the campaign. The Brahmas started Dievs Rolovs in net; the Latvian goaltender had a record of 12-5-0-1, a 1.63 GAA, a .927 save percentage, and one shutout on the year entering the matchup.
The first period was scoreless and saw both teams trade power play chances, with both penalty kill units coming up big for their respective clubs. The Wranglers’ perfect first period on the PK featured a pivotal kill on a five-minute major penalty to Roman Zap that gave him a game misconduct. Shots were 10-7 in favor of Lone Star heading into the first intermission.
Both teams each killed off another penalty in the second period and it looked like the scoreless tie would hold heading into the second intermission until Lone Star scored on a 4 on 4 to break the tie. Justin Kerr cashed in for his ninth goal of the season from Murakami and James with 24.5 seconds remaining in the second to give Lone Star a 1-0 lead heading into the second intermission. Shots after two periods of play were 26-15 in favor of Lone Star.
Looking to tie things up in the third, the Wranglers struck gold when Morely Phillps created a turnover behind the Brahmas net and fed Luke Morris a pass from below the goal line where he ripped home the game-tying goal. Morris’ goal 4:40 into the third period was his third of the season and Phillips’ point on the assist was his first of the season and first with the Wranglers. The rest of the period was scoreless as the Wranglers killed a few more penalties to keep the score knotted at 1-1. Connor McDonough made key saves on breakaways and prime scoring chances to keep the Wranglers in the game and force overtime.
Unfortunately for the Wranglers, their luck would run out in overtime as Ivan Zadvernuk ended the game on a goal off of a set play from MacDonald and Murakami to win it for Lone Star. The Wranglers did pick up a standing point in the overtime loss as they continue to climb the ranks of the South Division. Connor McDonough stopped 35 of 37 shots faced in the loss.
The Wranglers will look to settle the score on Saturday night at NYTEX Sports Centre as they finish off the five-game road trip with another date with the Lone Star Brahmas at 7:30 CST. You can watch on NATV or listen in on YouTube.