Odessa, TX – The Amarillo Wranglers defeated the Odessa Jackalopes on Saturday night by the final score of 3-2 at Ector County Coliseum. The Wranglers finish up the weekend picking up 5/6 standings points and head into the holiday break with a record of 16-9-5-1.
This was the final game of a three-game set at Ector County Coliseum. For the third straight game, the Wranglers started Connor McDonough in goal. The Jackalopes went with Maksim Bely in goal after starting Quentin Sigurdson the previous two nights.
The first period was scoreless and saw the Wranglers penalty kill go 2/2. Amarillo finished the period with a power play that carried over into the second period but was unable to score. The Wranglers opened the scoring when Topi Puikkonen sniped a shot past Bely 8:01 into the second period to go up 1-0. Alex Papaspyropoulos and Roman Zap earned the assists as the Wranglers’ second line combined for the score. Puikkonen scored again off a rebound from Papaspyropoulos to give the Wranglers a 2-0 lead with 4:17 remaining in the second period. Papaspyropoulos and Kyle DeMarco picked up the assists on Puikkonen’s twelfth goal of the season. Amarillo headed into the second intermission up 2-0 despite being outshot 25-14.
Odessa cut into Amarillo’s lead early into the third period when Cameron Dunn scored 25 seconds in to make it a 2-1 game. Michael Kadlecik and James Richman earned the assists on the goal. Connor McDonough made a handful of huge saves to keep the Wranglers up by one before Jacob Miller cashed in on a Tommy Chunchukov rebound to restore the Wranglers’ two-goal lead at 3-1. Miller’s goal was his first in the NAHL, and Tommy Chunchukov picked up a point while playing in his 100th NAHL game. Defenseman Nick Troutwine got the secondary assist, giving him his first point with the Wranglers. With three minutes to go, Odessa’s Michael Kadlecik tipped in a shot to pull the Jackalopes back into the game 3-2. Odessa threw everything they could at Connor McDonough to try and tie the game – but McDonough denied the Jackalopes to lift the Wranglers to victory by the final score of 3-2.
With the win, Amarillo now has sole possession of third place in the South Division with 38 points and a record of 16-9-5-1 heading into the holiday break. Puikkonen scored two goals and Papaspyroupoulos had two assists in the win. McDonough stopped 40/42 to pick up his fourteenth win of the season.
The Wranglers will return from the break on December 30th for the first of a two-game set with the New Mexico Ice Wolves at the Budweiser Bull Pen. Saturday will be a Hockey Tonk Saturday Night presented by West Texas Sports Grill, and Sunday will be a New Year’s Celebration presented by Budweiser. You can get your tickets at panhandletickets.com.