The Shreveport Mudbugs (25-11) glided past the Corpus Christi IceRays for a second straight night winning 5-1 Saturday night at the American Bank Center.
Shreveport opened up the scoring as Warren Natyshak and Carson Nichols did great work in the neutral zone to slip a pass through to Billy Feczko who fired home his fifth goal of the year from the RW circle at 17:13 to make it a 1-0 contest. The Bugs despite being out-shot 9-3 led 1-0 after one period of play.
The Bugs extended their lead in the second period when Brent Keefer was slam home a rebound in front for his fourth goal of the year at 10:09 to make it a 2-0 Shreveport edge. The play was made possible from Sam Miller and Jack Smiley who helped bring the puck into the offensive zone and Smiley delivering the first shot on net providing the rebound. Miller and Smiley earned the helpers on Keefer’s tally. Corpus Christi came back with a goal of their own at 11:12 when Ben Biester banged in his third goal of the year to make it a 2-1 game. However, Shreveport responded yet again when Keefer made a great entry into the offensive zone and dropped a perfect pass back to Dawson Sciarrino who rifled home his tenth goal of the year from the RW circle to give the Bugs a two-goal lead again at 3-1. The IceRays led in SOG, 24-17 after two periods of play.
The Bugs kept the foot on the gas pedal as Matt Weber redirected in his seventh tally of the season to make it a 4-1 contest at 9:47 of the 3rd period. Aidan Metcalfe and Conor Witherspoon earned the assists as Shreveport began to pull away from that point on. Shreveport would put the icing on the cake as Sam Miller blasted in his team-leading 12th goal of the season on the PP assisted by Alexis Girard and Timofei Khokhlachev at 12:43 lifting the Bugs lead to 5-1.
Richie Parent was stellar in the cage again making 28 saves on the night to earn his 12th win of the season.
Shreveport has now won five straight overall and improved to 11-0 against Corpus Christi this season.
The Mudbugs and IceRays will conclude this three-game series tomorrow afternoon at the American Bank Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.