The Shreveport Mudbugs (33-21-5) gave up five unanswered goals and fell to the El Paso Rhinos, 5-1 Friday night at George’s Pond in Hirsch Coliseum.
The Bugs got on the board at 15:24 when Jake Mack squeezed in his 11th tally of the year from the far side to give Shreveport a 1-0 edge. Evan Mitchell and Connor Gatto earned the helpers. The Rhinos would even the score at 16:19 off a penalty shot from Bo Cosman who backhanded home his 10th goal of the season to make it a 1-1 contest. The Bugs led in SOG, 13-9 after one.
Shreveport was sluggish for most of the 2nd period. It was El Paso taking advantage of a tripping/game misconduct penalty to Jake Mack by scoring a pair of goals from Alex Babich and Donovan O’Neil at 17:57 and 18:50 respectively to give the Rhinos a quick 3-1 lead. The Bugs led in SOG, 25-17 after two.
El Paso scored a few more goals in the third period to open up a 5-1 lead and Shreveport couldn’t recover.
The Bugs and Rhinos will conclude their two-game series and 2021-2022 regular season tomorrow night from George’s Pond in Hirsch Coliseum. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:11 p.m.