Game No. 2 - Bucks at Killer Bees

The Pointstreak box score for tonight's game, which should begin soon, can be found here.

Brian Sandalow has posted his pre-game blog and has started his running gamer.

Kyle Gajewski and Andy Franck are tonight's starting goaltenders.

First Period: The game has begun at about 7:44 p.m. ... According to Pointstreak, the Killer Bees have taken five shots before the Bucks have even taken their first. ... The Killer Bees are now up 6-1 on shots and getting the game's first power play on a hooking call against Tomas Sample at 6:48. ... Bucks killed that penalty but have taken only three shots to the Killer Bees' eight. ... Matt Sweazey went to the box for interference at 12:28, and the Bucks' power play picked up right where it left last night, with captain Adam Rivet knocking one in on assists from Darryl Smith and Jeff Bes at 12:53. ... Justin Styffe has given the Killer Bees their second chance on the man advantage tonight with a slashing penalty at 13:59. ... End of the period, Bucks lead 1-0. Still down on shots, but only 11-8 now.

Second Period: Concerning bit of information from Sandalow's blog: 40 seconds in and the Bucks might have suffered a big blow. Adam Rivet and Zak McClellan collided and Rivet stayed down. It looked like it might have been knee-to-knee. McClellan is in the box and Rivet is hobbling back to the Bucks' bench. McLellan was given a tripping minor. I'll post an update on Rivet as soon as I see one anywhere. ... Well, no word on Rivet just yet, but Justin Styffe has scored his first goal as a Buck at 4:05 in the period. The goal, which puts the Bucks up 2-0, is currently listed as unassisted. Shots are now 12-11 in the Bucks' favor, giving them their first lead of the game in that category. ... Seems Sandalow was a bit ahead of himself in that initial Rivet assessment considering his next update: So much for that. Rivet is back after the Bees killed the PP. ... Lance Monych now has the lone assist on Styffe's goal. Wonder what the two of them were doing on the ice together. ... And now Monych has scored one of his own on an assist from Evan Schwabe. Are the lines getting changed up, or are shifts just overlapping in a very good way for the Bucks tonight? That goal, at 11:48 in the period, puts the Bucks up 3-0. ... Jay Hardwick has taken the second penalty of the period, for interference at 13:44, to put the Bucks on their third power play. ... And now Mike Looby has scored on the power play at 14:13 on assists from Cody Hamilton and Schwabe to make it 4-o in the Bucks' favor. ... Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel just took a board checking penalty at 14:38 to give the Killer Bees' their second power play chance. ... That was what the Bees needed to break through, as Shaun Landolt has cut the Bucks' lead to 4-1 with a power-play goal assisted by Kurtis Dulle at 14:42. Pretty fast one. That's the first goal Gajewski has allowed tonight on 18 shots. The Bucks are at 24 in that category now. ... Sweazey was just given the second assist on that score. ... Bucks back on the power play with a tripping penalty against Topher Scott at 17:22. ... End of the period, Bucks still lead 4-1. They're up 28-20 on shots at this point.

Third Period: Aaron Lee is headed to the box for roughing at 1:34 in the period to give the Bucks an early power play. ... Daymen Rycroft turned that advantage around, scoring a shorthanded and purportedly unassisted goal at 2:40 in the period to cut the Bucks' lead to 4-2. ... The Bucks got their three-goal cushion back with the first score of the regular season by Dieude-Fauvel, who put one past Franck on a power play created by a board checking call against Bees captain Stacey Bauman. Goal came at 4:32 and was assisted by Evan Schwabe. Bucks lead 5-2. ... And now it's 5-3, as Grant Goeckner-Zoeller has scored the Bees' first even-strength goal, on assists from Landolt and Scott. ... Smith is in the box for holding as of 11:31.

Game Over: Sorry, got caught up pulling late wire, but the Bucks won 5-3 to get a 2-0 start to the season despite having two tough road games up first. ... Okay, here's the link to Bryan Benway's game story from tonight; the paper tomorrow will sadly have a very minimal version of that due to all the local prep athletic events taking up the front page today. The Bucks had to kill off quite a few penalties late in the game, so give those PK guys some credit, especially considering maybe half a practice was dedicated to that task. You can also read the Bees' recap, Sandalow's postgame blog (which is more so a promise for more tomorrow) and his story for The Monitor. ... I'm sure Coach Ruskowski wasn't happy with that shorthanded goal, but seems like this team is looking pretty good, eh? Is this the way you expected the opening weekend to go?