The Shreveport Mudbugs (15-7-1) got goals from seven different players to help blowout the Corpus Christi IceRays, 7-2 at the American Bank Center Friday night.
SHV got on the board early at 7:58 of the opening period when Kyan Haldenby got on a breakaway and forehanded home his seventh goal of the campaign to give the Bugs an early 1-0 lead. Logan Heroux and Brent Litchard earned the helpers on the game’s first goal. Corpus Christi responded as Andrew Hayek got out of the penalty box and got on a breakaway of his own and shot in his first goal to even the score, 1-1 at 16:09. The home team would then take the lead at 19:24 as Will Reardon tipped home his eighth goal in the slot to give the Rays a 2-1 lead. It was a disappointing opening period despite SHV leading in SOG, 12-5 after one.
SHV got a greasy one in front at 3:58 of the middle period as Ryan Burke rammed home his tenth goal of the season to tie the game, 2-2. Colin Vassallo and Alex Park picked up the assists as they got the puck down in front. The Bugs would then take the lead back at 18:58 as Jonah Jasser found Lucas Deeb down in front and Deeb backhanded home his eighth goal of the season to give SHV a 3-2 edge. The Bugs would add to their lead as Wil Murphy took a loose puck in the slot and smashed in his third goal of the year to extend the lead to 4-2 at 19:47.
The Bugs poured it on in the third period as Hayden Nichol punched in his tenth goal of the year just eight seconds in to make it 5-2. SHV got goals from Andrej Paricka and Liam Fleet at 5:06 and 6:20 respectively to help the Bugs close out a resounding 7-2 victory over the IceRays.
Eliot Seguin-Lescarbeau made 22 saves to earn his tenth win in net.
The Bugs and IceRays will continue their three-game series tomorrow night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. from the American Bank Center.