The Shreveport Mudbugs (30-19-5) received a memorable night from Austin Brimmer to rout the Amarillo Wranglers, 6-2 and earn another important sweep at the Amarillo Civic Center Saturday night.
The Bugs lit the lamp early at 2:52 of the opening period when Burke Simpson scooped up a rebound in front and roofed in his 12th tally of the year to give Shreveport an early 1-0 lead. Austin Brimmer and Evan Mitchell set up the play and earned the helpers on the game’s first goal. The early lead wouldn’t last long as Amarillo tied it up on a fluky goal in front off a shot that a few bodies in front and it was Tommy Chunchukov knocking in his seventh goal of the season to even the score, 1-1 at 7:15. The Wranglers would then take the lead after a Bugs defensive turnover which turned into a rocket shot from the slot from Drayton Todoroff for his third tally of the campaign to give the home team a 2-1 edge at 9:08. Shreveport led in SOG, 9-6 after one.
Shreveport would respond in the 2nd period at 6:35 when Brimmer would slide a perfect pass to Connor Gatto short side who drove home his team-leading 16th tally of the season to knot the game up at 2-2. Then Brimmer would glide into the offensive zone and rifle a shot upstairs which beat Max Gutjar for his 15th goal of the year at 8:38 to give the Bugs the lead back at 3-2. Gatto and Trenten Heyde would pick up the assists on Brimmer’s third point of the night.
The Bugs extended the lead at 7:40 of the third period when Brimmer stayed with the puck and shoveled home his rebound from the far side to score his 2nd goal of the night to make it a 4-2 contest. Shreveport would add more as Simpson won the faceoff draw and slinged in his 2nd goal of the night as well which snuck through the goalie’s pads to push the lead to 5-2 at 9:18. Then it was Brimmer who put the icing on the cake as he got in front of the net and poked home his third goal of the night for his first hat trick as a Mudbug and team-leading 17th goal of the game to increase the advantage to 6-2.
Devon Bobak earned his 25th win in net making just 18 saves on the night to help Shreveport win their 11th contest in their past 13 games.
The Bugs will be back on the road as they’ll play another critical series against the Odessa Jackalopes for a two-game series beginning next Friday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. from Ector County Coliseum.