The Shreveport Mudbugs (25-18-5) rallied late in the game to come from behind and beat their arch-rival in the Lone Star Brahmas, 3-2 in the shootout at George’s Pond in Hirsch Coliseum Friday night.
Lone Star pushed hard and heavy to begin the contest and capitalized at 8:28 of the first period when Matt McQuade shot in a rebound in front for his 12th tally of the season to make it a 1-0 Brahmas lead. It was the only goal of the opening period as the visiting team led in SOG, 14-5.
The Brahmas added to their lead at 3:40 of the middle period and Artur Turansky drilled home his 20th goal of the season in front off a perfect pass from Nicholas Niemo to extend their lead to 2-0 over the Bugs. Logan Heroux got locked into a big fight with Ben Zimmerman at the end of the period which saw Heroux win the battle and light up the home crowd. That was the only highlight in the game as LS led in SOG, 24-7 after two.
The Bugs finally got on the board at 10:35 of the third period when Connor Gatto drove the net and tucked home his 14th goal of the season along the far side to cut the deficit in half at 2-1. Burke Simpson and Logan Valkama got the assists on the PP tally. Shreveport then pushed hard late and with Devon Bobak pulled for the extra attacker, they found a bounce to go their way. At 19:44 Simpson found Austin Brimmer down low to banged home the game-tying from the far post to dramatically even the score, 2-2. Simpson and Timofei Khoklachev earned the helpers on the late equalizer.
The game stayed tied going into the shootout session where in the ninth round, it was Gunner Moore who roofed in the game-winning goal sending the home crowd into a frenzy and lifting Shreveport to a come from behind 3-2 victory over the Brahmas.
Bobak made 28 stops to earn his 21st win in net.
The Bugs and Brahmas will conclude their “Wrestling” themed series tomorrow night at George’s Pond in Hirsch Coliseum.