Macon Mayhem fall short in shootout

The rekindled hockey rivalry between Macon and Columbus might be in its infancy, but it is already raising the blood of pressure from supporters on both sides.

Five days after the Mayhem claimed an overtime victory on the home ice of the Cottonmouths, Columbus returned the favor Sunday afternoon at the Macon Coliseum, winning 3-2 in a shootout with Craig Sìmchuk having the decisive goal. The loss by the Mayhem (2-4-3) gives the Cottommouths (1-4-3) their first regulation victory of the season.

The Mayhem led 2-1 after a pair of second-period goals by Mark McGowan and Shawn Skelly before the Cottonmouths' Chris Rial scored off a rebound 2:03 into the third period. Both goalies put their respective teams in position to win throughout the game. Both teams were rendered scoreless in the first period before Columbus struck first 1:04 into the second period with Kyle Shapiro netting the goal.

Columbus goaltender Brandon Jaeger stopped 42 out of 44 shots with Macon's Garrett Bartus having 30 saves. Bartus kept Macon in position to pull ahead, but multiple scoring chances both late in regulation and in the five-minute overtime period failed to materialize.

THREE WHO MATTERED

Skelly: Claimed off waivers last week, Skelly, who began the season with Knoxville on opening night and actually scored against Macon, scored what was then the go-ahead goal in the second period on an assist from Michael Montagna and Lucas LaBelle. With John Schiavo having moved to Missouri of the ECHL on loan, Skelly is already doing his part to prevent a dropoff in offensive production from Macon's scoring lines.

Jaeger: After Columbus evened the score early in the third period, the Cottonmouths' netminder prevented Macon from pulling ahead, and the effort was rewarded with the overtime win.

Simchuk: His shootout goal delivered the win for Columbus, beating Bartus to his right. Prior to Simchuk's score, the two teams tied in the shootout through each the first five shoots with Connor Toomey and Josh Ranalli getting the Macon scores and Ben O'Quinn and Andy Bathgate doing so for Columbus.

TURNING POINT

The Mayhem had multiple scoring chances to win the game in both regulation and in overtime. None of them, however, were able to be converted, and missing out on the chances proved costly. Between multiple crossing passes in front of the Columbus net that were not able to be finished off into scores and Skelly being stopped on an overtime breakaway, just one of them being converted into a goal would have made the difference between a win and a loss for the Mayhem,

OBSERVATIONS

Rest needed: With a lack of practice time due to being on the road and events at the Macon Coliseum due to other events, there has not been much of an opportunity to fine tune parts of Macon's game on both ends of the ice. With the Mayhem not playing again until Saturday, there is a golden opportunity to evaluate facets of Macon's play and line combinations.

Missed opportunity: The Mayhem picked up just one point in two contests on their home ice during the weekend. While the season is young, teams must also be wary of digging themselves in too deep of a hole early in the season. The Mayhem are currently seventh in the standings of the nine-team SPHL, with their only regulation wins coming against Columbus.

WORTH MENTIONING

Tough slate continues: The Mayhem will have to continue to grow up in a hurry, Macon already has played league-leading Mississippi three times and hosts Fayetteville, one of three teams tied for second, on Saturday.

Killing it off: The Mayhem were strong Sunday when they were shorthanded. The Cottonmouths came away without a goal on three power play opportunities and were held to two shots on goal during those spans.

Strong in goal: Play in the net has not been an issue this year for the Mayhem. Bartus has been between the pipes for all but two games and has been up to the task. Sunday was no exception with Bartus stopping 30 shots and allowing only two regulation goals.

THEY SAID IT

Macon head coach Kevin Kerr on the loss: "We had our chances throughout the game; we gave up a late one there with some bad coverage in our zone. We've got to go back to work on Tuesday, sort through a bunch of things and make sure our guys are on the same page."

Kerr on fighting a lack of ice time: "We haven't had a lot of practice time the last couple of weeks because of some shows that have gone on here. You don't want to make excuses; these guys are pro hockey players., but I think the lack of ice time is a little bit of an issue. But hopefully now that we have our ice back, we'll be able to work on somethings and get back on track."

WHAT'S NEXT

The Mayhem return to the ice Saturday, hosting Fayetteville. It will be the first regular-season matchup between the two teams.

This story was originally published November 15, 2015 at 9:29 PM with the headline "Macon Mayhem fall short in shootout ."