First Period: The starting line is one example of the changes made this week, with Lincourt moving up to the top line alongside Schwabe and Bes. Christian, who Coach Ruskowski cited as a big threat tonight, is on the ice for the Mavericks, so we'll see how the Bucks handle him in his first shift. ... Now that I have a second to actually look at the Mavericks' uniforms, they are quite intense. Who on earth chose that color combo? ... Second line tonight appears to be Lance Monych-Darryl Smith-Justin Styffe. ... No shots have been taken as of the two-minute mark. ... Curtis Billsten-Eric Giosa-Igor Agarunov on this line. None of these lines are exactly what they were at practice this week, due to the absence of Bes. ... Bucks just got a few shots on Groenestege with that third line out there. They lead 3-0 in that category now. ... Defensive pairings have stayed the same as they've been for weeks. ... Rivet just lost his helmet, but no harm done. ... Mavericks have final gotten a couple shots on Levasseur, but the most damage they've caused is knocking his water bottle over into the corner. ... Best chance of the game so far as Lincourt centered it for Schwabe, who missed the net wide. ... Lincourt got another great opportunity not much later on a breakaway, but Groenestege made the save. ... Styffe just did some good work along the boards to get the puck out to Smith, who moved into the zone and wasn't able to do much with it. Bucks up 5-3 on shots now 7:47 in the period. ... Levasseur is wearing his Iowa Chops mask again, which reminds me both that I still haven't posted about it and that he bought a new white one that he wore to practice yesterday. ... After a lot of time spent in the Mavericks' zone to no avail, a blocked shot led to a 2-on-1 for Hammond and Christian, but Hammond got past the net before being able to take a shot and his centering pass for Christian was a bit off-target. ... Not surprisingly, Robin Richards is getting his time tonight subbing in on the third line. He's out there instead of Agarunov now. ... Groenestege just made quite an effort to keep the Bucks off the board as Bes and Lincourt were both on the doorstep swinging away at a loose puck that he managed to keep out of the net. ... Not to be outdone, Levasseur just made a nice sprawling save at the other end. ... An errant pass just resulted in an icing call against the Bucks, who are having a bit of trouble getting through the neutral zone so far tonight. ... Some more nice work by Levasseur, as Bill Vandermeer took a shot that was stopped but promptly bounced back to him and Levasseur managed to stab the second out of the air just in the nick of time. Not sure where his defense was on that. ... Bucks have been able to set up as though on the power play a couple times during 5-on-5 action tonight, but they aren't getting too many shots through to Groenestege in those situations. ... Rivet just took down Sean Perkins, seemingly accidentally but in a reasonable situation to take a penalty, to give the Mavericks the first power play of the game at 17:18. He'll serve two for interference. ... Big pileup in the crease after the first faceoff for that advantage, but the puck was kept out of the net. ... The Mavericks are only 14.4% on the power play this season, but this unit does not look bad. They did manage to get the puck in the net this time, but after a whistle blew the puck dead, so no goal. They've evened up shots at 14 and still have 48 seconds left on the advantage. ... Bucks only got the puck out of their zone once on that penalty kill, but Levasseur kept it out of his net every time to keep this scoreless with under a minute to play in the first. ... Apparently Groenestege does not like having Styffe in his face because he shoved him to the ice as time wound down, but no call. End of the period, game tied 0-0, shots tied 14-14. ... Wow, the Mavericks are impressively supportive. Every skater went up to Groenestege to show appreciation for the shutout first period, then Vandermeer stayed outside the runway to fist bump each of his teammates as he came off the ice. Not sure I've ever seen that at the end of a period before now. ... In case you were wondering, that was the first scoreless first period at the LEC this season. The last scoreless first period here was during last season's regular season home finale, a 5-0 loss to the Texas Brahmas on March 19.
Second Period: The Bucks' first shot of the period took a nifty effort by Lincourt to even be made, but Groenestege managed to get on top of it and keep it from passing the goal line. ... Monych looks to be getting back int he swing of things pretty quickly out there. Couple good chances for that line on its last shift; the third line will get a chance to keep that going as it takes a faceoff in the Mavericks' zone. ... Bryan Benway had mentioned Karl Sellan's penalty minutes earlier tonight, and perhaps it's worth mentioning he is second in the league with 116 (behind only former Buck and current Colorado Eagle Alex Penner with 119) and teammate Carlyle Lewis is close behind with 111. In contrast, the Bucks' top guys i that category, Styffe and Richards, have 56 and 54, respectively. Combined, they're still one behind Lewis. The man in fourth place is also a former Buck, as James Hiebert takes that spot with 91. ... Roughing on Swanson at 4:46 puts the Mavericks on the power play for the second time tonight. ... I guess Smith is still wearing the full face shield for games, but he hasn't been in practices. Some of you may notice Bes with a full shield tonight, as well. This team is having some face issues this year. ... Shots have stayed pretty even since the Mavericks caught up after the Bucks' early surge. They're tied at 18 nearly midway through the second. ... Well, we have finally seen Styffe lose a fight, as 6-foot-2, 200-pound Burgoyne knocked him around quite a bit. Not sure how fair it was for Burgoyne to keep his helmet on through that, but Styffe only landed a couple punches and definitely wasn't his usual fighting self in that one. ... Styffe went down the runway, and equipment manager Matt Brayfield followed with his stick, so I guess he might not be coming back despite there being more than eight minutes left in the period. Burgoyne is in the box. ... Doesn't seem like any of the team doctors followed Styffe off, and trainer Bobby Moore is still behind the bench, so I guess his face doesn't need any stitches. ... Vandermeer headed to the box for hooking at 16:45 to give the Bucks their first power play of the game. ... Bucks controlled the first half of that but couldn't score, then the Mavericks had most of the chances in the second half. ... Couple shots by the Bucks missed a mostly open net after the power play. ... Major drama at the end, as Groenestege made two brilliant saves on late chances for the Bucks, and we are now scoreless through 2. End of the period, game tied 0-0, shots 25-21 in favor of the Bucks. First Bucks' game that was scoreless through 2 since a 1-0 win over the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees on Jan. 29 at Dodge Arena. Still searching for the last such game at the LEC. ... I finally found it! The last game at the LEC to be scoreless through two periods was a 3-0 playoff win over the Killer Bees on March 31, 2006. Yeesh. ... Didn't need to go too much further back to find the last such regular season occurrence in a 3-0 win over the Austin IceBats on Jan. 11, 2006.
Third Period: Styffe is back out there, so I guess everything's okay with him. ... Bucks have taken the first few shots of the period and now lead 28-21 in that category. ... Mavericks just came close to breaking this scoreless tie as a shot sailed just wide of the net with Levasseur guarding the other end. Either Nick Sarota or Vandermeer took that one, couldn't tell whether the jersey was 15 or 16. ... Monych just made a nice move to avoid a defender and flipped a backhand at Groenestege, which resulted in his 31st save of the game. Levasseur is up to 23 at the other end but has obviously been the less busy goalie so far this period. ... If the Bucks can take advantage of their current opportunity, things should stay that way, as they are getting their second power play of the game at 7:13 with Sean Perkins in the box for tripping. ... I can't get through this game without mentioning the Mavericks have a defenseman named Jared Lavender. Quite a last name. ... The Bucks did not manage a shot on goal during that power play. Guess special teams might not be much of a factor tonight, after all. ... Actually, neither team has managed a shot in any scenario for a while now. ... Bucks just got one, but the game remains scoreless with less than nine minutes left in regulation. ... Levasseur just had to make a pretty nice save of the 25th shot he's faced tonight to keep it that way with 7:30 to go. ... Another nice save as Levasseur became one with his goalpost to keep the puck out of the net. Shots closer at 32-28 now. ... Lincourt to the box for interference now at 13:42 to give the Mavericks their third power play. Rivet argued that one a bit. ... Oh man, I was all excited for this to be the first game to go scoreless through regulation in the history of the LEC (Good angle, right?), but no such luck. Sellan just scored his second of the season five-hole on a centering pass from Simon Watson. Christian gets the second assist. That came with 4:52 left on the clock, meaning it doesn't even beat out a 1-0 loss to the Corpus Christi IceRays on Feb. 5, 2005, as the longest scoreless game at the LEC. Thanks to Greg Rajan for pointing that game out. ... Obviously desperate for a goal, the Bucks have Bes, Monych and Smith out there together right now. ... The Mavericks' goal came on their 30th shot of the game, by the way. ... The Bucks tried to pull Levasseur only to have the puck move back into their own zone. ... Okay, now he's off in favor of an extra skater with about 50 seconds left in regulation. ... Mavericks take an icing call with 18.1 seconds left to give the Bucks a faceoff in Groenestege's left circle. ... Ruskowski has opted to take a time out, which is understandable, but also gives the Mavericks on the ice some time to catch their breath before killing off the rest of the clock. ... Bes, Giosa, Lincourt, Mohr, Rivet and Smith on the ice for the Bucks. ... Hammond took an interference penalty with 17 seconds to go, but going 6-on-4 could not get the Bucks the tying goal they needed.
Game Over: Bucks lose 1-0, fall to 12-5-4 (28 points). Mavericks improve to 9-11-1 (19 points). What a way to lose. In case you were wondering, one game in Bucks' history had gone scoreless through regulation, just not at the LEC. That was a 1-0 overtime win over the Ice Bats on April 3, 2003.
1 comment:
The Bucks looked out of sync yesterday. Their passing was off and the offense was not clicking. Could it be because of the lines being changed up?
Post a Comment