Bowers, Whitley Lead Americans Past Mudbugs, 5-1
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs goaltender Ken Carroll locates the puck during Saturday night's game against the Allen Americans. The Americans won the game 5-1. (Photo Credit: John O'Neill)
The Allen Americans welcomed the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs to the Allen Event Center on Saturday night, having won the first game there, 4-3, on December 27th, and leading the season series 2-0. Both wins for the Americans were by a single goal, so there were expectations of a tightly-contested game. However, it was Allen’s night on both sides of the puck, with goaltender Chris Whitley making 32 saves and forward Justin Bowers notching five assists to lead the Americans to a 5-1 victory.
“We’ve always responded really well to three games in three nights,” Americans head coach Dwight Mullins said. “and the third game has always kind of been our best. I thought we displayed that again tonight. We had a lot of jump, we had a lot of energy. It was a fun game and it had a lot of components that people liked. It was high energy and it was a fun game to play and be a part of.”
The Mudbugs and the Americans were quick to start exchanging niceties. Just a little over four minutes into the first period, Allen’s Britt Dougherty and Bossier’s James DeLory dropped gloves near center ice and throwing some fists. The fight ended with DeLory knocking Dougherty onto his back and landing on top of him, but it would be hard to choose a victor in the bout.
A few minutes later, the Mudbugs would get on the scoreboard with their only goal (and lead) of the evening. Bossier defenseman Clay Plume threw a puck on net that forward David Rutherford was able to re-direct between the legs of Whitley.
Their lead didn’t last long, as the Americans were able to tie it up about midway through the period. Allen forward Nino Musitelli worked his way off the boards and around a Mudbugs defender to dish the puck over to defenseman Jordie Benn. Winding up with a big slapshot, Jordie Benn gunned the puck on net and beat Ken Carroll to even the game at 1-1.
Allen took over the lead a couple of minutes after that. The Americans had pushed deep into the Mudbugs zone, and Bruce Graham had worked the puck behind the net and come out on the far side. Curling off the boards, he unleashed a wrist shot that beat Carroll cleanly and gave the Americans a 2-1 advantage.
The Mudbugs had an opportunity to tie the game in the final minutes of the period, as they had 0:56 of 5-on-3 power play time, but were unable to get it through Allen’s defense and on net.
The period ended with a couple of fights, the first between Tyler Woodissse and Jeff Kyrzakos and the second between Liam Huculak and Neil Clark. The fisticuffs seemed to pull the crowd into things and really add to the feeling of animosity that emanated from the ice.
Allen took a 2-1 lead into the locker room after the first period.
Bossier had a second 5-on-3 opportunity in the 2nd period – this one over a minute in length – and once again they were unable to capitalize on the opportunity. The kill was marked by several strong defensive plays by the Americans and a short-handed opportunity by Bowers, who was just exiting the penalty box when the puck popped out of the zone.
The Americans went up 3-1 with about five minutes remaining in the 2nd period. The goal was highlighted by some crisp passing by the Americans. Bowers and Woodisse in particular, as they were the assisting passers on the goal, that was capped by a nice finish by Christian Gaudet.
About a minute later, on the power play after an interference call on Bossier’s Shawn Limpright, Allen added another goal. Nino Musitelli got off the assist sheet, and buried the puck in the back of the net to put the Americans up 4-1, which is how the period would close.
“I really thought we made some real good decisions out there, offensively,” said Mullins. “Our defense jumped in the play at the right times and really broke open what I thought was a pretty close hockey game. Chris Whitley played a really strong, strong first ten minutes of the second period, and from there we were able to kick a couple in.”
The third period moved along quickly for the first half, and there were very few stoppages of play. A matching pair of 2:00 penalties and then a 2:00 penalty for tripping against Bossier really opened up the ice, as it created a 4-on-3 for Allen halfway through the frame. They were unable to turn that to their advantage, but scored shortly after, with Bowers notching his fifth assist.
“I think you’re going to have those nights, sometimes,” Bowers said. “Where the puck kind of comes to you and the puck goes in for other guys. I was on the tail-end of a lot of those. A couple of nice goals, a couple of nice buries, and I happened to get a couple of assists.”
Photos by: John O’Neill