The Shreveport Mudbugs (33-20-5) came up short to the Corpus Christi IceRays, 4-2 at George’s Pond in Hirsch Coliseum Saturday night.
The Bugs got on the board early at 6:34 of the opening period when Austin Brimmer redirected home his team leading 19th goal of the season in front to give Shreveport the early 1-0 edge. Evan Mitchell threw the initial shot from the right point and earned the only helper on the game’s first goal. Corpus Christi responded at 8:58 on the PP when Dylan Contreras went back door and scored his fifth goal of the campaign to even the score, 1-1. It was a sloppy first period which had six penalties – three on each squad as the Rays led in SOG, 14-8 after one.
The Rays took their first lead of the series at 5:20 of the middle period when Jude Kurtas redirected home his 11th tally of the year to make it a 2-1 Corpus Christi lead. The visiting team led in SOG, 23-18 after two.
Corpus Christi delivered the dagger shorthanded at 5:06 of the third period when Michael Casey stole the puck and went in on a breakaway and went to his backhand to score his 10th goal of the year to make it a 3-1 contest, Shreveport wouldn’t have much life after that as the IceRays scored an EN goal at 17:26 to push the CC lead to 4-1. Drake Morse would score his sixth tally of the campaign at 19:36, but came up short 4-2 which snapped their five-game losing streak.
The Bugs will conclude their 2021-2022 regular season as they’ll host the El Paso Rhinos for a two-game series next weekend. Game one will be next Friday night with puck drop scheduled at 7:11 p.m. from George’s Pond in Hirsch Coliseum.