Wild shootout win moves Mayhem back into first
Points are at an incredibly high premium at this point of the hockey season, and it showed in a big way for both Macon and Roanoke on Friday night at the Macon Coliseum. A wild game ensued as the Mayhem fought to regain the lead in the SPHL standings, with the Rail Yard Dawgs aiming chase down Columbus for the final playoff spot.
In a game in which Roanoke rallied back to tie the score twice in the third period, the Mayhem put the game away for good in an overtime shootout with goalie Jordan Ruby keeping the visitors off the board and Jake Trask and Matt Summers netting shootout goals in a 6-5 victory.
The win, coupled with Fayetteville’s 5-1 loss to Peoria on Friday, moves the Mayhem (34-12-6, 74 points) two points in front of the FireAntz for first place. The victory also stretches the advantage to three in front of Huntsville and five ahead of Peoria.
Roanoke got third-period goals from former Mayhem player Jackson Brewer with a masterful individual effort by Zach Tatrn tying the game inside the final two minutes to force overtime.
Five who mattered
Trask: He set an early tone in a large way and also helped clinch the win. On the Mayhem’s first trip down the ice off the opening faceoff, his score nine seconds into game made it a very early 1-0 Macon lead. His shootout goal also helped Macon claim the win and pick up two points in the standings. He also had two assists.
Eric Shand: His score, the first point of his pro career, gave the Mayhem a 2-0 lead within the first five minutes as he cashed in off assists from Trask and Brandon Pfiel.
Matt Johnson: His return from injury continued to play off for Macon with the power play score giving the Mayhem a 3-1 lead in addition to having an assist.
Mark Rivera: Roanoke had appeared to have taken a share of the momentum as a score by Dmytro Babeneko karomed off the pipe and past Ruby to cut Macon’s lead to 3-2 in the second period, but Rivera snatched it right back within a minute and a half. The Mayhem got loose on a 3-on-1 rush, and Roanoke goalie Ty Reichenbach was unable to stop Rivera’s shot from the left side 15:47 into the second period.
Matt Summers: His power play goal ended up looming large when the game ended up going to overtime, and his score in the first round of the shootout started things off on the right foot en route to the win.
Turning Point
With the game forced to a shootout after neither team scored in overtime, Summers and Trask notched goals to give the Mayhem the win.
Observations
Jumping out quick: Macon did its best to rattle Reichenbach early. The Dawgs’ netminder was making his first pro start, and the Mayhem put him under heavy pressure early and two scores in the first five minutes, including one by Trask nine seconds into the game, was the result. The bombardment didn’t end, as the Mayhem put 48 shots on goal Friday.
Ruby’s return: Playing for the first time in 20 days, Jordan Ruby got the win, keeping Roanoke off the scoreboard in overtime and the shootout to help capture the win. He stopped 29 of the 34 shots that he faced.
Desperation showed: Like Macon last year, Roanoke is trying to get into the postseason via the final spot. That desire showed on multiple occasions Friday as the Rail Yard Dawgs fought back multiple times to stay in position to win.
Worth mentioning
Roster moves: The Mayhem placed goalie Mike DeLaVergne on the 21-day injured reserve on Thursday while signing right winger Ben Robillard to a three-game tryout earlier this week.
Waiting out suspensions: Following Friday’s game, Macon head coach Kevin Kerr and forward Stathis Soumelidis have one game remaining on their suspensions stemming from last Saturday in Huntsville. Both will be eligible to return on Sunday against Pensacola. Dennis Sicard has two games left to serve and can return next Friday.
The race for eighth: Columbus continues to set itself up as the Mayhem’s first-round playoff opponent if the Mayhem win the regular season title after Friday’s action against Mississippi. The Cottonmouths lead Roanoke by three points for the final playoff spot after Friday’s 4-2 loss.
They said it
Shand on his first professional goal: “It was great, it was a huge monkey on my back. Things like that, they can start to weigh on you after a while. I wish I could give half of it to (Daniel Gentzler) and Trask, because they helped make it happen.”
Shand on the third period from Roanoke: “They kind of showed up and kind of found their stride. Thankfully we were able to come back and put up some points for ourselves.”
Trask on scoring nine seconds into the game: “We had talked about how we wanted to get started and get things going. We could not have planned that any better.”
Trask on Roanoke’s desperation: “We were in that position last year, trying to get that last spot. They are going to lay it all out there. Those are the most dangerous teams, they’re trying to keep their season going. You have to give them credit, they played well (Friday).”
What’s next?
The Mayhem travel to Huntsville on Saturday and host Pensacola on Sunday.
This story was originally published April 1, 2017 at 12:21 AM with the headline "Wild shootout win moves Mayhem back into first."