The Shreveport Mudbugs stormed back from an early hole and came back to beat the Wichita Falls Warriors, 4-3 in a shutout for their fourth season-opening win in their five-year history of the NAHL era of Bugs hockey.
Wichita Falls opened up the game with goals from Thomas Weis and Luke Panchisin and 7:22 and 12:59 of the 1st period respectively putting Shreveport in an early 2-0. The Warriors led in SOG, 15-10 after one period of play.
Wichita stretched their lead on the PP at 13:40 when Jackson Salt scored his second goal of the season making it a 3-0 contest. Shreveport would battle back and get on the board for the first time this season at 19:22 when Sean Bunting banged in a rebound assisted by Aidan Metcalfe and Brent Keefer cutting the deficit to 3-1. The Bugs led in SOG, 28-27 after two periods of play.
The late goal in the 2nd period spirited the Mudbugs as Austin Brimmer ripped home his first goal of the season just 50 seconds into the 3rd on the PP top shelf to make it a 3-2 contest. Davis Goukler earned the only assist on the play. The Bugs tied the game at 4:09 when Brimmer banged in his second straight tally of the game from the near side assisted by Chris Hedden.
The game would stay tied 3-3 with no scoring in the OT session sending the game into a shootout. Connor Gatto and Billy Feczko scored the goals in the shootout, but it was Cullen DeYoung’s brilliant glove save from the far side to help the Mudbugs come back and win 4-3 over the Wichita Falls Wildcats.
DeYoung made 40 saves to earn his first win of the season.
The Bugs and Warriors will conclude their series tomorrow night from Kay Yaeger Coliseum with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m.