Odessa, TX – The Odessa Jackalopes defeated the Amarillo Wranglers 4-3 in a shootout on Friday night at Ector County Coliseum. Odessa scored three goals in the third period to tie the game twice, and eventually won in a three round shootout.
The Wranglers and the Jackalopes met for the second game of a three game set on Friday, with Amarillo starting goaltender Matt Schoephoerster who stopped a tremendous 39/43 shots in his last start on Saturday vs Colorado; and the Jackalopes starting netminder Aries Carangi, who had not started a game since March 2nd.
The Wranglers once again got off to a great start, imposing their physicality on the Jackalopes with thunderous hits in the opening moments of the first period. Amarillo struck first with 4:47 left in the opening period when Padraic Whited checked a Jackalope off of the puck to feed it to Cole Saterdalen, who lobbed the puck down the left wing for speedy Kirill Evstigneev to take it in stride. Evstigneev knifed his way to the slot and scored on the backhand for a highlight reel moment that gave Amarillo a 1-0 lead. Evstigneev’s 8th goal of the season and 7th as a Wrangler was assisted by Saterdalen and Whited, who earned his first NAHL point on the play. Through one period, the Wranglers led 1-0 and 7-6 in the shot count.
The Wranglers doubled their lead just 2:16 into the second period when the Wood, Izadi, and Rassega line combined for a goal to put Amarillo up 2-0. Wood came barreling toward the goal from the right wing to feed it to Izadi in the slot, but his shot went wide. Izadi was able to locate the rebound and wrapped it around the net to Rassega in the slot, who banged it in for his 5th goal of the year. It was the only goal scored in the second period, as just one penalty was called against Marc LaFrance, which the Wranglers were successfully able to kill off. Through 40 minutes the Wranglers led 2-0, and the Jackalopes led the shot count 19-18.
Odessa broke Schoephoerster’s shutout bid 3:59 into the third period when Chris Graves scored on a one-timer from the slot to make it a 2-1 game. Graves’ 7th goal of the season and 4th as a Jackalope was assisted by Jack L’Esperance and Shea Barry. Just about five minutes later, with 11:16 to go in the period, the Jackalopes scored again on a similar looking play, when Jordan Larkee scored his 13th goal of the season on a one-timer from the slot. Larkee’s tying goal was assisted by Christian Tavare. Now a 2-2 game, the Wranglers scrambled to get the lead back, and got it when Anthony White scored his first goal as a Wrangler from the right point with 8:46 to go. Rassega and Izadi both assisted on the goal to each earn a multi-point night. White’s goal made it a 3-2 Wranglers lead. With under two minutes to go, Odessa pulled the netminder for the extra attacker to make it a 6 on 5 advantage. It paid off, as they drilled the puck on Schoephoerster and crashed the crease, where Nicholas Puricelli smashed it in to tie the game at 3-3 with 1:44 on the clock. Puricelli’s 4th goal of the year sent the game to overtime.
The game would not be decided in overtime, so it went to a shootout. The Wranglers shot first, where Trevor O’Donohue was stopped by Carangi. Jeremy Jacobs scored on Odessa’s first shot, and it proved to be the difference maker, as neither Aleslov nor Evstigneev could solve Carangi after Ghossi was stopped in the second round, giving the Jackalopes the 4-3 victory after a three round shootout.
Matt Schoephoerster stopped 28/31 and 1/2 in the shootout. Amarillo went 0/1 on the power play and 1/1 on the penalty kill. Wood (1g, 2a in 3gp), Rassega (2g, 2a in 3gp), and Izadi ((2g, 2a in 2gp) each extended their point streaks. With the shootout loss, the Wranglers now have points in 5 straight games.
The Wranglers will look to bounce back in the final road game of the regular season on Saturday night at Ector County Coliseum. Puck drop is set for 7:15 PM between the Wranglers and the Jackalopes. Fans can watch live on NATV or listen in on YouTube.