Bugs Rally Late to Sink Brahmas in Shootout

Feb 12, 2022

The Shreveport Mudbugs (19-14-5) came back from a two-goal deficit to beat their arch-rival in the Lone Star Brahmas, 3-2 to extend their winning streak to five games at Nytex Sports Centre Friday night.
Lone Star got things rolling early with a familiar foe in Nicholas Niemo finding a rebound in front and sliding in his 24th tally in front to give the Brahmas a 1-0 lead at 10:39 of the opening period. Niemo would cash in again at 14:25 when the Bugs had trouble getting the puck out of the zone and Lone Star’s leading goal scorer would find the backdoor to slam in his second goal of the night to make it a 2-0 contest. The Brahmas controlled most of the opening period leading in SOG, 10-3 after one.
Things got testy in the 2nd period as Nik Miller and Niemo were tied up with each other and then got into a heated verbal exchange in their respective penalty boxes. That was the highlight of the period as there was no scoring from either team. The Brahmas led in SOG, 16-6 after two.
The Bugs rallied in the third period and it started Austin Brimmer in front at 2:56 of the third period just jabbing away at the puck and slipping it past Arthur Smith for his 11th tally of the year to cut the deficit to 2-1. Connor Gatto and Burke Simpson earned the assists. Shreveport would find the equalizer at 14:34 when Brimmer did the work down low and fed Simpson in the LW circle who rifled home his sixth goal of the season to even the score, 2-2.
The game stayed tied 2-2 going to the shootout and it was goals from Connor Gatto and Logan Valkama combined with two big saves from Devon Bobak to lift Shreveport to a dramatic 3-2 victory over Lone Star.
Bobak made 20 saves to earn his 16th win of the season in net.

The Bugs and Brahmas will conclude this rivalry series tomorrow night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Nytex Sports Centre.