First Period: Jeremy Swanson played his first shift for the Bucks on the second shift of the game and looked pretty good. Had a couple checks and batted a puck out of the air to avoid it giving his goalie some trouble. Both teams look like they have very little jump right now, though. ... Holy crap. It is rare that I drop my jaw at a CHL play, but Smith just made that happen once again. I was remarking to myself that he was doing some great backchecking to get the puck away from the Gorillas behind Levasseur, then he sent the puck up to Mohr, who tipped it to Bes, who gave it back to Smith, who danced right around the defense and slipped the puck around Brown. That was an incredible effort by Smith. Bucks lead 1-0 just 2:27 into the game. ... The Gorillas almost got that one back right away, as some flying bodies around the net nearly allowed the Gorillas to sneak the puck past Levasseur. He was able to keep it out, though. Just noticed that Smith's goal was scored on the Bucks' first and only shot of the game so far. Levasseur has two saves. ... Bell just skated in on Levasseur all alone but couldn't get control of the puck to take a good shot and basically shoved it right into the goalie's pads. ... Monych and Smith just had a 2-on-3 they made look like a 2-on-1 and just missed a perfect scoring chance when Monych's pass missed Smith's stick wide. ... Brown just stopped Smith twice to keep the score 1-0. Not particularly incredible shots, but they came one right after the other, so kudos to Smith on reacting quickly to that. ... One of the Gorillas just clearly tripped Smith, but I guess Kevin Graber doesn't feel like calling anything yet. ... Is it just me, or has Smith been out there for the whole game so far? He's taking some very long shifts already. ... That third line just had a pretty strong shift; they're working very hard and likely would have scored had it not been for one minor miscue. However, Peter-James Corsi was called for a hold at the end of that shift, so the Gorillas are going on the game's first power play at 10:52. Starting five, minus Bes, out to kill it. ... Those penalty killers were out there for over a minute but managed to clear it for Igor Agarunov, Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel, Tomas Sample and Evan Schwabe to take over the next shift. ... Agarunov and Schwabe got a pretty good chance in the Gorillas' zone and kept it over there for a while, then Levasseur made a good stick save on the first shot he faced when play came back to his end. ... Levasseur just stopped Bell coming in on home alone again, deflecting the puck out with his leg pad. ... A slashing penalty against Mohr at 13:54 has put the Gorillas back on the power play, this time with the Bucks missing one of their top PK guys. ... Agarunov's versatility really does come in handy on the penalty kill; he made a great play to clear the puck toward the end of that one. ... And then Mohr came out of the box at just the right time to grab the puck, go 1-on-1 with Brown and win. Bucks lead 2-0 at 16:03. That's Mohr's first goal of the season and second point of the night. Pretty nice deking for a slapshot-minded defenseman. Corsi gets the primary assist, his first point of the regular season, and Dieude Fauvel had the secondary, his first assist. ... Just 34 seconds later, on a delayed call against Austin Sutter, the Bucks have made it 3-0. I believe that is their second extra-attacker goal of the season. Dieude-Fauvel scored it on assists from Corsi and Maxime Lincourt. Shots are even at 10. ... Wow, Levasseur just got lucky. Don't get me wrong; he's doing a great job. But a Gorillas skater just grabbed his own rebound from just inches away from Levasseur and somehow shot it nowhere near the net. ... Bucks almost scored again with the third line out there but hit the post. ... End of the period, Bucks lead 3-0. For their sake, it's a good thing they didn't have a collapse at the end of the first period like they did against the Allen Americans last Saturday. ... Forget to mention; final shot tally for that period was 12-11 in favor of the Gorillas.
Second Period: Brown got a great start to the second as Trimm sent the puck near him only to have it pushed back to Agarunov, who had a shot stopped, then Schwabe went to knock it in with Brown mostly out of the net and he somehow managed to get back and glove it. ... Smith is headed to the box for an obvious reactionary slash behind the Bucks' net just 1:42 into the period to give the Gorillas another power play. ... Good PK work and some slick saves by Levasseur leave this thing 3-0 in the Bucks' favor as the penalty expires. ... Not sure if Brown felt Justin Styffe was interfering with him or what, but he was shoving him around quite a bit just now. Kudos to Styffe for not reacting because he would have taken a penalty if he had for sure. ... Lincourt is headed to the box at 6:34 for interference, and he did not seem to agree with that call at all. ... Nothing going for the Gorillas on that power play, but I have to note that everyone is falling all over the place tonight. Not sure if you can blame that on the quick turnover from the concert last night or if everyone's just being clumsy. ... Bucks are getting their first power play of the game as Jason Chafe is headed to the box for hooking at 11:54. ... And they are now 1-for-1 on the advantage, as Bes deflected one in at 12:43. Smith was up on the point for that one, sent the puck to Rivet at the other point, and Rivet took a shot that was subsequently knocked in by Bes. Bucks lead 4-0. ... Bucks going back on the power play at 13:31 on a tripping call against Taylor Guay. ... No go on that one, but the Bucks are not relenting at all out there. A lot of their shots are getting blocked; the score would probably be even more lopsided otherwise. ... End of the period, Bucks lead 4-0, up 23-22 on shots.
Third Period: Levasseur just made a pretty stunning glove save about two minutes into the third period, and you can tell by the way he reacted that he's feeling pretty confident right now. ... Well, he just lost his shutout, but I'm going to let myself think I didn't jinx him because that was just a strange play. Guenther scored the Gorillas' first goal at 4:22, but he flew into the net with the puck and knocked it right off its moorings. Bucks lead 4-1. ... Errr, make that 4-2, as the Gorillas just destroyed the Bucks' top defensive pairing to work a tic-tac-toe play and get Guenther his second goal at 4:57. Still 15 minutes left in this one; the Bucks better settle down. ... What a time for Robin Richards to take a slashing penalty. Gorillas on the power play at 5:41. ... Sorry for the break between updates, but it's still 4-2 with about five minutes to play in regulation. Play has been in the Bucks' zone a lot more this period than in the first two. ... Bit of drama now as Corsi seemingly accidentally knocked down Stuart MacRae, who stayed on the ice for a while, prompting teammate Jake Obermeyer to go after Corsi and promptly be challenged by Styffe. The refs didn't let them fight, and the captains are on the ice now trying to help the refs decide the punishment. ... James Jernberg has ended up in the box for the Gorillas, making me wonder if I read someone's number wrong earlier, and Corsi is in for the Bucks to set up some 4-on-4. Penalties were for roughing and kneeing, respectively, at 15:37 in the period. Guess Corsi's hit was a bit more vicious than it looked from up here. ... Agarunov and Schwabe just missed on a 2-on-1 as Agarunov's shot hit the right post. Earlier in the period, Agarunov and Smith went 2-on-1 and Agarunov chose to pass instead of taking a pretty open shot, but his pass went wide. ... Bucks are on a 4-on-3 power play now with a hooking call against Aldoff at 16:43. ... Smith has his second of the game, and another beauty, at 17:23. I really still can't get over the fact that this kid got sent back to the CHL after scoring goals in NHL prospect games and AHL exhibitions. He's clearly too talented for this league. Smith took a pass from Swanson at the half wall and skated in to take a precision shot that went right between the left post and Brown's right shoulder. Levasseur gets the other assist. Bucks lead 5-2 with 2:37 to play.
Game Over: Bucks win 5-2, improve to 3-1-1 (seven points). Gorillas fall to 5-0-2 (10 points) and fall behind the Odessa Jackalopes in the standings. Sorry for the delay in posting that, but I went downstairs to get quotes as soon as time expired. For quotes about the game, you can check out tomorrow's LMT, but I'm sure you can guess that Coach Ruskowski was mostly pleased but very unhappy about the two quick goals the Gorillas scored in the third. I also got to ask him about bringing in Swanson, and here's what he had to say: "He's a veteran guy, he moves the puck, he's not flashy but he's very effective. That's what I want from my defense. Let's get the puck, stop them 1-on-1, play a strong defensive game and then when you have the opportunity to move the puck up, move it up. I still think it'll take a while for him to know our system, but I thought for a first game he played very well."
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