Amarillo, TX – The Amarillo Wranglers defeated the Lone Star Brahmas in a shootout at the Budweiser Bull Pen on Friday night by the final score of 2-1.
The Wranglers’ Connor McDonough got the start in net against Lone Star’s Dievs Rolovs. McDonough entered the evening with a record of 9-4-1, a 2.35 GAA, and a .908 save percentage, while Rolovs carried a record of 11-5, a 1.63 GAA, and a .924 save percentage into the matchup.
Amarillo opened the scoring with 5:06 remaining in the first period when Topi Puikkonen was driving towards the net and lost the puck and Alex Papaspyropoulos was able to pick up the loose puck between the circles and fire it between the legs of Rolovs for the game’s opening goal. The rest of the period was scoreless and featured only one power play chance on either side, where the Wranglers were unable to capitalize.
Just like the first period, the second period featured only one goal – this time it went Lone Star’s way. Shorthanded, Justin Kerr cycled around the Wranglers’ zone and centered a pass out in front for Jacob MacDonald who fired it home for the 1-1 score. The rest of the period was scoreless and ended with the Brahmas leading the shot count 18-17.
Lone Star opened the third period with a power play opportunity but was unable to capitalize. The third period ended scoreless with the game tied up at 1-1. Shots were 31-26 in favor of Lone Star at the end of regulation.
Neither team was able to score in 3 on 3 overtime, so the game went to a shootout. Anthony Cappello missed the net on Lone Star’s first attempt. Nolan Gagnon faked out Dievs Rolovs to score on Amarillo’s first attempt. Connor McDonough stopped Justin Kerr with a glove save to keep the Brahmas off the board. With the 1-0 edge, Topi Puikkonen buried a shot past Rolovs to win the game for the Wranglers 2-1 in the shootout.
With the victory the Wranglers improved to 12-6-2 on the season. The Wranglers will take on the Brahmas again on Saturday night at the Budweiser Bull Pen. Puck drop will be at 7:15. You can get your tickets at panhandletickets.com or tune in on NATV or YouTube for the audio feed.