Mudbugs Drop Series To El Paso

The Shreveport Mudbugs road woes continued as they fell in both games in El Paso.  They did pick up a point in the standing with a shoot-out loss on Friday night 3-2.   They lost the Saturday night matchup 3-2.   The Mudbugs have not won a game in the last six games.  The losses find the Mudbugs having to claw their way out of the cellar being 2 points behind seventh-place Corpus Christi and will need a few weeks to get back into playoff positioning as they are 8 points behind fourth place.   

El Paso 3, Shreveport 2 (SOL)  Friday

The Shreveport Mudbugs got an early opportunity with a man advantage with head contact minor penalty on Rhino Maksis Brimanis.  El Paso killed the power play.   Shreveport would get another shot with a tripping call on Jan Oleginski.  The power play was extended for the final eight seconds when Mudbug Niklas Miller and Rhino Ian Carpenter were both charged with roughing.  MIller also picked up an interference call.  Bo Cossman was also sent to the box for a head contact.  El Paso survived the extended power play.  El Paso then struck the first goal with 1 second remaining as Matt Johnson gave the Rhinos the 1-0 lead heading into the second period.  El Paso outshot Shreveport 17-8 in the first period.

Logan Furstenau gave the Rhino’s their first power play when he was booked on a tripping call.  El Paso didn’t get to enjoy the advantage long.  Eighteen seconds into the power play, Graham Harris was sent to the penalty box for slashing.  The crowd enjoyed some 4-on-4 for the remainder of the power playtime.   Shreveport had a short time with an advantage.  Neither team could score.  The Rhinos got an extended power play on the next set of penalties.  Billy Feczko was charged with a cross-checking charge to give the Rhino’s a power play with 7:46 remaining in the second period.   With five seconds remaining in the power play, El Paso’s Frank Tafelski was given an interference lead so for the final five seconds 4-on-4 happened.  Shreveport survived the power play but a little less than 20 seconds into their power play, Niklas Miller was given a high sticking double minor call with 5:27 remaining in the period.  The two skated at 4-on-4 for the remainder of 1 minute 41 seconds.  Neither team scored off the 4-on-4.  Shreveport then survived the remaining 2 minutes and 19 seconds.  Shreveport survived and neither team scored in the second period.  El Paso maintained the 1-0 lead.  Both teams took 14 shots in the second period.  

Penalties may not have affected the scoreboard in the previous two periods, they became costly in the third period.  El Paso was the first victim as Alex Krouse was sent to the penalty box on a hooking call.  Timofei Khokhlachev tied the game with a goal a little less than a minute into the power play.  Davis Goukler and Billy Feczko were credited with assists with 16:28 remaining in regulation.  Logan Gotinsky gave the Mudbugs the lead a minute and a half later with a goal.  Captain Garrett Steele and Niklas Miller were given assists.  El Paso got another power-play opportunity with Austin Brimmer’s minor roughing call.  Shreveport survived and maintained their 2-1 lead.  El Paso was caught with a 5-minute major and sent Evan Miles to the showers with the head contact major.  El Paso maintained and didn’t allow Shreveport to increase the lead.   With 5:18 remaining, El Paso got one more opportunity for a power play when Khokhalachev was given a slashing call.  A little more than a minute into the power play,  El Paso’s Alex Krause scored the equalizer with 4:35 remaining in regulation.  The two stayed tied to the end of regulation at 2-2.  Shreveport outshot El Paso 12-7 in the third period.

El Paso got an early power-play opportunity of 4-on-3 skate in overtime with a slashing call.  Shreveport outlasted the power play.  The two teams only had two shots apiece in the overtime session with no score and heading to a shootout. 

Billy Feczko first shot was no good for the Mudbugs.   Johnathan Horn gave the Rhinos the 1-0 lead in the shootout.  Logan Valkama’s shot was also no good.   Rhino’s Alex Krause shot was also no good and the Mudbugs were still alive.  Austin Brimmer nailed the shot to tie the shootout at 1-1.   Graham Harris would close out the shootout win for El Paso.  

El Paso 5, Shreveport 2 (Saturday)

Shreveport had the first opportunity for a power play with a tripping penalty called on Sean Matthews.  The one-man advantage turned into 4-on-4 hockey when Jacob Onstott was sent to the penalty box on a slashing call.  Two seconds into 4-on-4, El Paso took advantage with a goal by Jack Anderson,  El Paso would get another play with almost six minutes remaining when Austin Brimmer was charged with high sticking.  Shreveport survived the power play and was only at full strength for sixteen seconds.  Timofei Khokhlachev was sent to the box for tripping.  Shreveport outlasted the second power play.  El Paso took the 1-0 lead into the second period.  El Paso outshot Shreveport 13-5.

El Paso doubled the lead a little over six minutes into the second period with Jack Anderson’s second goal.  The celebration was short-lived as Logan Valkama scored the unassisted goal just 38 seconds after Anderson’s goal.  Shreveport’s NIklas Miller and El Paso’s Donovan O’Neil were both sent to the penalty box for roughing.  O’Neil got an extra penalty for cross-checking to give the Mudbugs the power play.  Mudbugs took the advantage to heart as Austin Brimmer scored the power-play goal to catch the Rhinos at 2-2.  Tyler Behl and Garrett Steele were credited with the assists.  El Paso’s Maksis Brimanis was sent to the sin bin for tripping for one final power play for t Shreveport for the second period.  El Paso’s Alex Krouse netted a closing minute goal to send the Rhinos into the final period with a 3-2 lead.  

El Paso added an insurance goal almost midway through the third period with Jan Olenginski’s shot.  Shreveport got one shot at a power play with Jack Anderson’s head contact penalty.  Rhino killed the power play.  El Paso added one more goal as Simon Bucheler was returning to the goal and held on for the 5-2 win.  

Shreveport will have their final road series of the six-week road trip next week as they head to face the third-place Odessa Jackalopes

First Line

Second Line

Southern Division Standings