Blaine, MN– The Amarillo Wranglers finished the 2021 NAHL Showcase with a 4-to-3 victory over the Northeast Generals to post a 3-and-1 record to start the season.
The Wranglers would break the ice halfway through the opening period when defenseman Michael Spinner buried a power-play goal at the 7:45 mark of the period. Northeast would respond with a power-play goal of their own when Paul Minnehan beat Wranglers goalie Marco Duronio 11 minutes into the game.
Defense took a backseat to begin the second period when five goals were scored in the first 4:30 of the second period. The Wranglers would start with goals from Jakob Peterson and Anthony Vidrick before the 3:00 mark of the period. Just seven seconds after Vidrick’s goal, Brent Keefer responded for the Generals to make it a 3-to-2 score.
Kristaps Skrastins would add another goal to his impressive showcase total with his eight goal of the season just over four minutes of the second period to regian the two-goal lead for Amarillo. The Wranglers would maintain their two-goal advantage until the 14 minute mark of the period when Generals forward scored right after a powerplay expired to make it 4-to-3 going into the third.
The Wranglers would have to hold onto a one-goal advantage in the third and would get big saves by Duronio in net. The Generals would pepper 15 shots on net in the final frame but Amarillo would hang on and secure their third win of the season and pick up six out of a possible eight points of the NAHL Showcase.
Duronio would pick up his first win of the season with a 29 save outing against the Generals. Amarillo would chase Generals goalie Cameron Kuntar after the second period and score their four goals on 24 shots. The Wranglers would net two more powerplay goals and finish the week with seven total powerplay goals. After four games, Amarillo leads the South division with a 53.8% efficiency on the man advantage.
Amarillo will play in front of their hometown fans for the first time on Friday, Sept 24 against the El Paso Rhinos who will also enter with a 3-and-1 record.