Somehow, despite playing three men down on less than 17 hours of rest in a building they had not won in previously this season, the Bucks pulled off a 3-2 shootout win over the Texas Brahmas today.
Though giving up a point was not ideal, being able to take two was quite a feat for the Bucks playing against a Brahmas team that had all 16 skaters and a full day of rest heading into the game.
Sylvain Deschatelets scored for the Bucks for the second straight night, Eric Giosa got one for the line he centers that did a lot of damage last night, and Jeff Bes scored the game-winner in the shootout. Deschatelets also scored in the shootout, but Bes's goal decided the game.
Maxime Lincourt followed up his two-goal performance last night with two assists today, and Paul Elliott and Adam Rivet picked up a helper apiece.
Pier-Olivier Pelletier, making his third straight start on very limited rest after battling a cold this week, stopped 34 of 36 shots he faced in regulation and overtime and all four shooters the Brahmas sent his way in the shootout.
There were plenty of penalties in this one, with 21 minors called between regulation and overtime, but neither team scored on the power play.
The Bucks were 0-for-9 on the advantage and held the Brahmas 0-for-6.
Of course, the most important thing about all of this is that the Bucks (31-20-10, 62 points) are now three points ahead of the Brahmas (31-23-7, 69 points) for the Southern Conference's third seed with three games left on the regular season schedule.
The Bucks have to play the best team in the league, at least record-wise, in the Odessa Jackalopes (45-11-5, 95 points) twice, at home Wednesday, on the road Friday, but close out the regular season against the league's worst, the Wichita Thunder (9-27-5, 23 points), at home on Saturday.
The Brahmas play the Northern Conference's top team, the Rapid City Rush (41-13-6, 88 points), on the road on Tuesday and Wednesday and host the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (35-21-4, 74 points) on Saturday.
If the Rush can beat the Brahmas in both of their games and the Bucks can get a point against the Jackalopes on Wednesday, they should have the third seed to themselves by that night after finishing the season series with the Brahmas with a 4-3-0 record.
Anyway, you can read more about the game in Bryan Benway's press release.
The team will take a well-deserved day off tomorrow after getting home from North Richland Hills, but they'll practice on Thursday, so I'll be there to get updates on the status of injured players and everything else.
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