The Shreveport Mudbugs (31-16) fell behind and couldn’t recover early losing 6-1 to the Amarillo Bulls Friday night at the Amarillo Civic Center.
Amarillo got on the board first at 7:33 of the opening period when a rebound was lost in sight from Maiszon Balboa in front and shot in from Jordan Venegoni giving the Bulls the early 1-0. The Bugs responded at 8:55 as Tim Khokhlachev raced up the ice from the far side and fired home his 11th goal of the year tying the game, 1-1. However, the Bulls scored again this time on the PP at 15:34 when Gagik Malakyan shot a bullet that went top shelf to give Amarillo the lead again at 2-1. Amarillo led in SOG, 14-11 after one period of play.
The 2nd period got worse after Shreveport squandered a five min PP opportunity. Amarillo then would score three tallies at 2:37, 5:40, and 14:58 from Matt Allen, Aaron White, and Noah Carlin respectively to bust the game open at 5-1. Shreveport looked frustrated and lost in the middle period. Amarillo led in SOG, 31-20.
Amarillo’s Nick Trela added a tally at 12:42 of the 3rd per. to make it a 6-1 contest. Shreveport just couldn’t get much going all night.
Richie Parent came in relief of the Balboa in net late in the 2nd period to stop 20 of 21 shots in the game.
The Bugs and Bulls will conclude their season series tomorrow night at the Amarillo Civic Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.