The game-winning goal from Allen's Nathan O'Nabigon knocks Laredo goaltender Pier-Olivier Pelletier's water bottle in the air. This overtime goal gave the Americans a 4-3 victory over the visiting Laredo Bucks. (Photo Credit: John O'Neill)
The Allen Americans played their third game in three nights on Saturday, as they hosted the Laredo Bucks at the Allen Event Center. Though the fatigue of playing so often began to show in the Americans’ play as the game wore on, they were able to come from behind in the third period, and then get the victory in overtime. Nathan O’Nabigon’s wrist shot with 1:18 left in OT gave the Americans their third win in as many days.
With time running out in the overtime frame, Christian Gaudet drove the net and fed the puck to O’Nabigon, who was coming in on the right side of the net. O’Nabigon flicked it under the glove of Pelletier to give the Americans the victory.
“I saw Gaudy going wide, so I just wanted to go to the net in case there was a rebound,” O’Nabigon explained. “He fed it across and it hit off my skate. I tried to put it on net and got lucky.”
“We found a way to take advantage of an opportunity that were open to us in the last couple of minutes,” said Americans head coach Dwight Mullins. “And then, in overtime, I thought Chris Gaudet made a great play to O’Nabigon, and O’Nabigon had to handle a hot puck, and he did a good job as well.”
This win gives the Americans a 3-1 record in the 5:00 overtime frame. They’re 2-1 when resolving a game by shootout.
From the opening drop of the puck, the Bucks came hot out of the gates. Laredo quickly outshot the Americans 7-0 through the first eight minutes of the game. For Americans netminder Chris Whitley, he may have had a bit of deja vu, as the Colorado Eagles did the same thing to him the previous night.
But, despite the large shot margin, it was Allen who would draw first blood. The Americans took the lead, 1-0, about halfway through the first period as Justin Bowers scored a power play goal on a wrist shot from the right-hand faceoff circle. It was the Americans second shot of the game.
The Bucks found their offense late in the 2nd period, as they scored twice in a minute and a half to take the lead. Evan Schwabe scored first on a wrist shot from the slot that went “against the grain” and caught Chris Whitley off-guard. Shortly after, Eric Giosa poked at a loose puck in the Americans’ crease, and Laredo moved ahead. Allen found the tying goal before the end of the period, though. Ryan Fairbarn scored from near the blue line with 1:26 left on the clock to knot it up once again.
In the third period, the play see-sawed back and forth between the two offensive zones for most of the frame, until the Bucks moved ahead, once again on the power play. With Brandon Straub in the box for Allen, Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel put Laredo up 3-2 with a slapshot that beat Whitley low. But, with three and a half minutes remaining in regulation, the Americans were able to tie it up once more. The puck was centered to a driving Sean Perkins in the slot, and he roofed it high to the stick side of Pelletier to even the score at 3-3. It remained that way until overtime, when O’Nabigon picked up the game-winner.
Special teams were certainly an emphasis in this game; five of the seven goals scored were on the power play. Allen was 3-for-4, while Laredo was 2-for-5.
“I think we’ve had a good supporting cast, especially the last two nights,” said Mullins. “I thought we’ve had consistant efforts from our top three, four, five guys. But with O’Nabigon, (Bill) Loupee and those guys really chipping in and digging in, that definitely helps. We’re going to need that down the stretch, so it’s nice to have.”
Photos by: John O’Neill
