Mudbugs Hockey Blog

The Mudbugs rallied with a pair of goals in the 3rd period to even up the score at 3-3. Travis Clayton finished the job at 3:59 of the overtime period in heroic fashion. The win increased their home win streak to 5 games.  Goalie John DeCaro made his 2nd straight start finishing with 38 saves for his 14th win of the season.

The game was high tempo throughout, with the appearance of a playoff game.  With the score 3-1 Colorado to begin the 3rd,  it became imperative the Mudbugs score the next goal to have any chance of a win against one of the top teams in the league.

Bing-Bam-Boom, two goals and the score was tied, which led us to a thrilling overtime victory capsulated by an end to end rush by Travis Clayton.  Then POW! The roof came off of the place with sound that was pleasantly deafening. It was in my opinion the most exciting home game, if not the best, all season long.

Mudbugs defensemen Scott Kalinchuck opened the scoring with his 3rd of the season at 9:51 of the first, as he wristed a shot that found the short side past a surprised Mike Mole for the 1-0 lead. Mark Johnson and David Rutherford picked up the assists. That would be the only tally of the period. Shots on goal after 20 minutes favored the Eagles by an 11-9 margin.

Colorado came out in the second and stomped the Mudbugs with three straight goals of their own.  Jim Jackson scored on the powerplay at 2:09 to tie the score. Then just under a minute later, Steve Haddon made it 2-1. The Eagles Ryan Tobler upped the score to 3-1, once again with the man-advantage. Shots on goal after 40 minutes favored the Eagles 28-25.

The Mudbugs came out in the 3rd and scored the all important next goal at 2:08 with a powerplay goal by Simon Mangos bringing his team to within one, at 3-2. The goal was his 7th of the season and was assisted by Neil Clark and David Pszenyczny.

The Mudbugs rally continued as Jeff Kryzakos was set up for the tying goal by linemates Shawn Limpright and Travis Clayton for his 12th of the season and 3rd in the last two games at 10:47 of the period. The “CLK” line strikes again. There would no more scoring over the rest of regulation time, so onto overtime they went, with the score knotted up at 3 goals apiece.

The rally was complete when Travis Clayton grabbed a loose puck in the Mudbugs zone, lugging it through the neutral zone, all the way into the slot, then firing the winning goal past Eagles netminder Mike Mole. It was a very exciting game with a very exciting finish. The nippy, cold weather outside the arena was a bit more bearable after a game like that.

The Mudbugs will enjoy some much needed and well earned time off. They will not suite up again until next month, well actually next weekend. When they will go against Wichita on Friday night and Texas on Saturday. Both game begin at 7:05pm.

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