By ROY LANG III, Journal Sports
The Shreveport Mudbugs felt like they deserved four points on their trip to Odessa, but weren’t terribly disappointed with three, either.
The Mudbugs had an overtime goal controversially waved off Friday before the Jackalopes prevailed in overtime. The officials admitted they also missed an offside that would have negated an Odessa goal in Friday’s contest.
It took more than 60 minutes to decide Saturday’s game, too, but the Mudbugs prevailed on this occasion when Nick Marino scored 1:58 into the extra session.
Shreveport trailed 4-1 on Friday. On Saturday, the Mudbugs fell behind 2-0 early, rallied to take the lead, but were later forced to erase a third-period deficit in a see-saw affair.
The Mudbugs (21-13-6) lost a little ground to third-place New Mexico, but now lead fifth-place Amarillo by five points in the race for the final playoff spot in the North American Hockey League’s South Division.
Last week’s 3 Stars
- Jake Mack, the spark has been ignited. The veteran scored three goals and added an assist this weekend. He tied Friday’s game with 8:32 remaining to help earn a point.
- Hayden Nichol, posted multiple points on Friday and Saturday and scored in both games.
- Nick Marino, notched the game-winner in overtime on Saturday to continue his run of stellar play.
NAHL South Division standings
Oklahoma (31-6-1), 63 points
Lone Star (26-9-4), 56
New Mexico (24-14-3), 51
Shreveport (21-13-6), 48
Amarillo (20-16-3), 43
Odessa (19-17-2), 40
El Paso (11-25-3), 25
Corpus Christi (9-26-5), 23
*top four make the playoffs
Team leaders
Goals: Garrett Steele, 13
Assists: Drake Morse, Logan Heroux, 21
Points: Morse, 33
Penalty Minutes: Maksim Sushchynski, 70
Game-winning goals: Morse, Hayden Nichol, Logan Gotinsky, 3
Goals-against average: Simon Bucheler, 2.03
Save percentage: Bucheler, .920
Up next
Shreveport continues its six-game road trip with a weekend (Friday, Saturday, 7:30 p.m.) series at New Mexico.
Contact Roy at roylangiii@yahoo.com