Amarillo, TX – The Amarillo Wranglers defeated the Shreveport Mudbugs at the Budweiser Bull Pen on Friday night by the score of 2-0. With the win, the Wranglers improved to 10-6-1 on the season. Connor McDonough stopped all 15 shots faced and picked up his first shutout of the season.
McDonough made his 13th start for the Wranglers this season, carrying a record of 7-4-1, a 2.58 GAA, and a .903 save percentage coming into the game. The Mudbugs started Eliot Seguin-Lescarbeau in goal, who had a record of 6-1-0-1, a 2.67 GAA, and a .903 save percentage entering the matchup. This game was the second game of a two-game set between the Wranglers and the Mudbugs.
The Wranglers successfully killed a penalty in the opening minutes of the game in what ended up being a scoreless first period. The Wranglers were successful in getting pucks to the net and limiting the Mudbugs’ chances dominating the shot count 13-3 in the first frame, but were unable to put one past Seguin-Lescarbeau. A late penalty by Shreveport gave the Wranglers a partial power play to begin the second period.
The first goal of the game came 2:33 into the second period when on an odd man rush Tommy Chunchukov sauced a beautiful backhand pass from the right wing to Luke Morris who was open in the slot to put home his second goal of the season. Alex Papaspyropoulos picked up the secondary assist on the goal that gave the Wranglers a 1-0 lead. The shot count after 40 minutes of play was 19-10 in favor of the Wranglers.
Amarillo did not hold back in the third period, as the Wranglers continued to pepper Seguin-Lescarbeau with shots in the third period. The Wranglers held the Mudbugs to just five shots on goal in the third period. In the waning moments of the game with the Shreveport net empty, Connor McNaughton was able to claim the puck off of a defensive zone draw and fire it the length of the ice for the empty net goal. McNaughton’s fifth goal of the season sealed the game giving the Wranglers the 2-0 victory.
Connor McDonough earned his first shutout of the season stopping all 15 shots that came his way. McDonough’s shutout on Friday was the fifth of his NAHL career after he earned four last season en route to helping the Wranglers qualify for the playoffs for the first time.
The Wranglers head to Albuquerque next weekend to take on the New Mexico Ice Wolves in the first of four meetings this season. You can catch Friday and Saturday’s games at 7:30 CST on NATV or listen in on our YouTube audio feed.