First Period: Interesting note - Alex Goupil is wearing an "A" tonight to serve as alternate captain along with Brent Cullaton and Adam Rivet tonight in captain Serge Dube's absence. ... I'm still trying to get used to Martin standing on the blue line with the rest of the starters during the anthem. ... Shawn Snider has come out for the game's second shift, his first with the Bucks. He's on a line with Darryl Smith centering and Cullaton on the other wing - meaning the top. ... As mentioned in my story today, Igor Agarunov will be on defense for the remainder of the season now that Dube and Jaye Judd are on the injured reserve. ... Third line is Rick Kozak-Jason Dixon-Matt Miller. ... Bucks are wearing their gold sweaters and socks, and I have to say I do not like the color one bit. ... Kinnunen, usually a pretty superb D-man, just misplayed a puck behind his own net, giving Dixon a chance to grab it and send it over to Miller, who netted it top shelf over Jaeger's right shoulder. Bucks lead 1-0 at 4:47 in the game. ... Kozak, Agarunov and Steve Weidlich were the other players on the ice for the Bucks' goal. ... At 10:19, Erick Lizon came out to drop the gloves with the man who Hiebert busted up on Saturday, Nathan Saunders. It was a drawn-out, gropey excuse for a fight, but Lizon landed some nice rights early and to bring the refs in to break it up at the end. ... The crowd just thought the Bucks scored another one, but Jaeger was having none of that as he made a couple sprawling saves. The Bucks do get a power play out of it, though, as Ross Rouleau is headed to the box for hooking. ... Let's make that a 5-on-3, as Minard was just called for hooking. The Bucks kept the puck and thus delayed the call, leaving them with 1:19 on the two-man advantage, but the penalty was committed just seconds into the first minor. ... I guess switching over to defense isn't going to cool Agarunov's hot streak; he just added to his career-high goal total with a power-play score on an assist from Rick Kozak. Seems wristing pucks over Jaeger's shoulders is the way to go. ... Salvis has the second assist on that goal, which came at 12:36 as Rouleau was just getting ready to leave the box. He got to, but Minard's still stuck in there (with Saunders) for 56 seconds. ... Pointstreak has that goal going to Kozak. Either Agarunov was randomly swinging his stick at nothing exactly as the goal scored, or that is wrong. ... Hiebert sure is taking a beating tonight. Brahmas are going after him with big body checks left and right, one just knocked him over and sent him sliding into the boards head first, then he popped up and skated back into the play just in time to accidentally block a shot by Mike Gooch with his midsection. Yeesh. ... With 28.1 seconds left in the period, Snider took the Bucks' first penalty of the game on a hooking call. ... Bucks lead 2-0 going into the first intermission but will have to kill off another 1:32 of that penalty to start the second. They lead 11-9 on shots.
Second Period: And it has been killed. ... Kozak just earned an elbowing penalty for his actions against Matt Burto to put the Brahmas back on the power play at 2:20. ... It took them 39 shots (if you include tonight and Saturday), but the Brahmas have finally scored against Martin in a Bucks uniform. Deitsch did the honors at 5:40 in the period. Bucks lead 2-1. ... The Brahmas have outshot the Bucks 5-0 in the period, by the way. ... Brandon Benedict got what is currently the lone assist on that goal, and Kozak got one added on Miller's first-period score. ... Cullaton and Sheppard are headed to the box, for slashing and a retaliatory roughing, respectively, at 6:31 in the period. Woo for 4-on-4. ... Minard once again took a penalty not long into a teammate's shift in the box, and the Bucks will have a 4-on-3 for 1:20 thanks to his slashing minor. ... Cullaton just got close to scoring on a nice shot from the goal line on the 5-on-4 that followed the 4-on-3, but Jaeger managed to stop it and his teammates cleared the puck soon thereafter. ... Quite a series of events there, as Miller broke away, then got held up, then broke free again, then sent a shot into Jaeger's pads only to have Jaeger lose the puck and everyone on else on the ice go after it. The net came off its moorings soon enough to take care of that situation. ... Sheppard just went after a puck right as Martin was picking it up with his glove, and I guess Weidlich didn't like it because he pounced on Sheppard behind the net after the whistle was blown. He'll be serving a roughing penalty now at 11:45 in the period. ... Craig Minard just sent a beautiful pass to Grant Jacobsen camped out in the left corner of Martin's crease, and Jacobsen got it home to tie the score at 12:25 in the period. Kinnunen has the secondary helper. ... Now Deitsch is in the box for roughing with 6:37 to play in the period, putting the Bucks on the power play and giving them the perfect chance to take the lead back before the second expires. That Jacobsen goal was a power-play score, by the way. ... Hiebert just missed Cullaton with a pass that did the Brahmas a favor by clearing the puck. ... Somehow Jordan Cameron and Rivet just got tangled up on the ground, and J.P. Sylvain seems to think that was Rivet's fault, sending him to the box for hooking to make it 4-on-4 for now. ... Jacobsen just had a breakaway chance but had it broken up by the very versatile Agarunov. ... Kozak just lost his stick, never a good thing on a penalty kill, then decided to glove the puck on the ice and is now being sent to the box. With 3:55 to play, the Brahmas will have a 43-second 5-0n-3. ... Martin made some big saves to help kill the two-man part of that, and the rather meager crowd responded with the loudest "Defense!" chant I've heard at the LEC. Still some time on the 5-0n-4 for the Brahmas. ... End of the second, game tied 2-2. The Brahmas outshot the Bucks 14-6 in that period.
Third Period: The Bucks will get the first power play of this period, as Rouleau has been sent to the box for hooking at 2:59. ... Bucks are back on top with a power-play goal scored 1t 3:40 by Rivet from the right point. Smith got the puck out to him, and he fired it in. Hiebert gets the secondary helper and tried to start a fight immediately following the goal while every other Buck on the ice was celebrating. Guess some things never change (and I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way). ... I'm not sure how well I can assess Snider based on 2/3 of a game with a team he only got to practice with once, but I can tell you he is not afraid to sacrifice his body to make a play. ... Hiebert just did some nifty stickwork to get the puck away from a Brahmas defenseman then fired the puck, intending to go five-hole, I believe, and got stopped by Jaeger. ... The net just came off its moorings, and it took quite some time, and some dramatics from Martin, to get a whistle blown. ... A couple close calls in the Bucks' zone, but Martin is managing to keep the puck out. The Brahmas are outshooting the Bucks 6-3 so far this period. ... Brahmas just got a great chance on a Bucks' turnover in their own zone but fired the puck wide. ... Sheppard is headed to the box with 8:57 to play, putting the Bucks on the power play as he serves his tripping minor. ... Hiebert has replaced Snider on Smith's wing. ... Pete Rouleau, the elder of the Brahmas' brothers, just tied things up again with 6:11 to play on a very nifty backhand goal right over Martin's left shoulder. Nice puck handling there, seriously. ... Matt Quinn has what is currently the lone assist, while Travis Banga has been given the second on the Brahmas' first goal in the second period. ... Bucks are getting another power play with 4:13 to go as Cameron is headed to the box for slashing. He certainly didn't seem happy about that call. ... The Bucks have gone offsides accidentally leaving their own zone twice on this power play. Not something they should be doing. ... With 2:12 on the clock, Snider has been called for interference to put the Brahmas on an advantage for nearly the entirety of the rest of this game. ... Martin knocked away the only shot on goal the Brahmas were able to take on that power play, and this thing is still tied with 1.8 seconds to play in regulation. ... And the No. 3 seed in the Southern Conference belongs to the Bucks, as they are assured at least one point from this game, which is headed into overtime. ... Bucks outshot the Brahmas 10-9 in that period.
Overtime: Not too much to say until Rivet got the puck to Jaeger, who deflected it in over himself. Not to take any credit away from Rivet; he played a pretty good game and that was a strong shot. That's No. 500 for Ruskowski.
Game Over: Bucks win 4-3 in overtime, improve to 35-22-5 (75 points), clinch the No. 3 seed and get Ruskowski his 500th career coaching win.
Other Scores: RiverKings 6, Oilers 4; Rush 6, Thunder 3.
NHL Scores: Blue Jackets 4, Blackhawks 3 (OT); Hurricanes 4, Devils 2; Flames 2, Stars 1; Ducks 4, Predators 3 (OT).
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