The Shreveport Mudbugs (35-13-2) scored four unanswered goals to coast by the Oklahoma Warriors, 5-2 at Blazers Ice Centre Saturday night.
After OKW scored the game’s first goal, SHV exploded with a big response of their own in the opening period. It all started with Andrej Paricka who took a perfect pass from Carter McKay and buried home his fifth goal of the season just twenty seconds after OKC scored to even the game, 1-1 at 9:27. SHV would grab their first lead of the game when Ryan Burke found a cutting Brent Litchard along the short side who slipped in his second goal of the series to give the Bugs a 2-1 lead at 14:24. That same duo capitalized on the PP at 17:04 on the PP when Litchard found Burke along the far side who rammed in his team-leading 21st goal of the year to push the lead to 3-1. The visiting team led in SOG, 12-7 after one.
SHV extended their lead in the second period as Liam Fleet found Colin Vassallo down on the short side who smacked in his 14th tally of the year to make it a 4-1 contest at 8:53. After OKW scored, the Bugs had another answer on the PP as Fleet found space in the high slot and wired home his fifth goal of the campaign to push the SHV edge to 5-2 at 15:42. Mudbugs led in SOG, 24-19 after two.
The Bugs put the Warriors to sleep in the third not giving them many chances to complete a 5-2 victory and their seventh win in eight games against the defending champs.
Nikola Goich earned his eighth win in net making 27 stops on the night. SHV has beaten OKW seven out of eight games this season.
The Bugs will return home to take on the Amarillo Wranglers for a two-game series beginning next Friday night. It’ll be our annual “Dr. Seuss” themed night w/ puck drop scheduled for 7:11 p.m. from George’s Pond in Hirsch Coliseum.