Blaine, MN – The Amarillo Wranglers defeated the Minnesota Wilderness 4-1 on Thursday at the NAHL Showcase to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Connor McDonough got the start in net for the Wranglers. McDonough stopped 19 of 20 shots faced in yesterday’s win over the Janesville Jets. Ben Dardis made his season debut starting the game for Minnesota.
Minnesota opened the scoring 12:05 into the first when a shot from Joe Cesario bounced off the post and into the back of the net. Alex Senf and Harper Searles picked up the assists on the goal. Amarillo quickly responded on the power play when Jack Ivey notched his first goal of the season 15:48 into the first period to make the game 1-1. Jack McDonald tallied the lone assist on the goal. Shots were 6 apiece after 20 minutes of play.
The second period saw no scoring, although both teams had plenty of power play opportunities. Amarillo went 0/2 on the power play despite generating solid scoring chances. Minnesota went 0/3 in the second frame on the man advantage and struggled to get anything going against a stout Wranglers penalty kill. Amarillo outshot Minnesota 12-4 in the second period.
The Wranglers broke loose in the third period when Topi Puikkonen buried his first two goals of the season 3:45 and 6:53 into the third. Puikkonen was able to take advantage of loose pucks in front of the Wilderness net to give the Wranglers a 3-1 lead. Ben Ivey and Jack Ivey picked up assists on Puikkonen’s first goal, while Alex Papaspyropoulos and Trey Williams posted assists on Puikkonen’s second. The Wranglers would go up 4-1 with 6:22 remaining in the third period thanks to Jack Ivey’s second of the game assisted by Jack McDonald and Nolan Gagnon.
Connor McDonough stopped 20 of 21 shots in the win. Jack Ivey had 2 goals and 1 assist. Topi Puikkonen scored 2 goals. Jack McDonald had two assists. Amarillo improved to 2-0-0-0 on the season with the win.
The NAHL Showcase continues on Friday, September 15th, when the Wranglers take on the Northeast Generals at 11:15 AM at the NCS Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota. Catch all the action on NAHLTV. Plans are available at NAHLTV.com.