Amarillo, Tx– The Wranglers found themselves down two goals late in the second period but clawed back to force overtime and eventually defeat the Mudbugs 4-to-3 in the shootout.
With an excited crowd on ‘Military Night,’ the Wranglers would open the scoring when Anthony Vidrick collected his third goal of the season at the 9:01 mark of the opening period. Amarillo would hold onto the one-goal lead into the first intermission.
Shreveport would control the majority of the second period with 17 shots and three straight goals. The Mudbugs would tie the game with Austin Brimmer’s fourth goal at the 7:11 mark of the period. The visitors would grab the lead just three minutes later when Tim Khokhlachev converted for his third goal on the campaign. The Mudbugs would find the back of the net again late in the period with a Logan Gotinsky goal to open up a 3-to-1 score.
Amarillo would find themselves on the power play late in the period when Glebs Prohorenkovs would stash home a rebound with only eight seconds left to cut the deficit in half going into the third period. In the third, the Wranglers would shut down Shreveport, and Logan Cleary would tie the game 11 minutes into the period to set up an exciting finish to Saturday’s game.
The teams would head to overtime for the second time in their four games this season. Both teams would generate a scoring chance in overtime but could not find the back of the net setting up a shootout. The Wranglers would miss the go-ahead goal by just inches twice in the final moments, including a shot hitting the crossbar in the last 60 seconds.
In the first round, Shreveport would open the scoring with a Billy Feczko goal, and Kristaps Skrastins would respond in the Wranglers’ chance. Max Gutjahr would shut the door in the final two rounds, and a Jaroslav Samadov second-round goal would give the Wranglers their sixth straight win and second sweep of the Mudbugs.
The Wranglers will hit the road Sunday morning to take on the New Mexico Ice Wolves for their third game in three days. The teams will face-off at 5 p.m. central time at the Outpost Ice Arena.