Shreveport, LA – The Shreveport Mudbugs defeated the Amarillo Wranglers at George’s Pond 4-2 on Saturday night in the season series finale between the two clubs.
Entering the matchup, the Mudbugs were one of the hottest teams in the league winning 13 of their last 15, while the Wranglers looked to end a four-game losing skid despite playing well in their last two outings. Connor McDonough got the start in net for Amarillo, making his 13th consecutive start and 44th appearance of the season. Coming into the game, McDonough boasted a record of 22-14-5-2, a 2.44 GAA, a .906 save percentage, and one shutout coming against the Mudbugs in November. Shreveport opted to give Nikola Goich the net, who carried a record of 8-3-0-1, a 2.25 GAA, a .915 save percentage, and two shutouts on the season entering the matchup.
The Wranglers looked to set the tone early in the game physically and offensively. They were successful in doing so as they drew a couple of penalties early on setting themselves up with a 4 on 3 power play within the game’s opening two minutes. Jack Ivey converted on the man advantage to give Amarillo an early 1-0 lead just 2:30 into the contest. Ivey was stationed out in front of Goich and redirected a Nick Troutwine slapshot for his team-leading 27th goal of the year and his 13th power play goal. Nolan Gagnon was credited with the secondary assist. No more scoring occurred in the first period, however, in response to both teams’ physical and chippy approach to the game, there were a combined nine penalties in the first period.
Play continued to remain physical in the second period. The Mudbugs had a few good looks early in the period but McDonough made some stellar saves to keep Shreveport off the board while the Wranglers continued to shine defensively and on the forecheck. With under ten minutes to go in the second frame, the Wranglers’ fourth line was able to hem the Mudbugs in their own zone and generate a few chances offensively. Because of this hard work, Trace Day was able to steal the puck away on a clearing attempt and snipe a shot past Goich from the left circle to extend the Amarillo lead to 2-0 with 9:37 remaining in the period. Just moments later, the Mudbugs went on a 4 on 3 power play and were able to convert. Very similar to the way the Wranglers scored their first goal, the Mudbugs’ Logan Heroux fired a shot from the blue line past a screened McDonough to cut into the Wranglers’ lead and make it a 2-1 game with 7:16 remaining in the second. Tempers continued to flare late in the period, as Wranglers defenseman TJ Richey fought Mudbugs defenseman Maksim Sushchynski with 1:50 left on the clock to give Amarillo a momentum boost heading into the intermission.
While there were a combined 19 penalties in the first two periods, there were no infractions in the final frame. The Mudbugs climbed back to tie the game with 12:12 left in the third with a goal from Lucas Deeb off of a line rush to make it 2-2. One-on-one with the McDonough, Deeb was able to maneuver by the Wranglers’ netminder who had committed to the poke check for the tying goal. The Wranglers continued to test Goich as time ticked down toward the end of regulation. With around seven minutes to go in regulation in a close contest, the Mudbugs dumped the puck into the near corner of the Wranglers zone to start their next offensive chance. Expecting the puck to roll along the boards and behind the back of the net, McDonough came out of his crease to play the puck. However, the puck took an unexpected bounce off a stanchion in the corner and ricocheted back into the blue paint and onto the stick of Hayden Nichol who put the puck in the back of the net to give the Mudbugs the lead at 3-2 with 6:48 remaining in regulation. The fluke goal gave the Mudbugs the lead and ultimately ended up being the game-winner, as the Mudbugs added an insurance tally with 4:56 left on the clock from Nichol to settle the score at 4-2.
Despite putting together one of their best performances in the last couple of weeks and giving the Mudbugs a run for their money, the Wranglers fell to 26-18-6-2 on the year. Connor McDonough was spectacular in goal-stopping 34 of 38 shots faced in the loss. Amarillo will look to get back in the win column as the longest road trip of the season wraps up next weekend in Greeley, Colorado when the Wranglers face off against the Colorado Grit on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. You can watch on NAHLTV or listen in on YouTube.