Macon Mayhem lose their regular-season home finale
Less than 24 hours after withstanding a late-game barrage of goals and momentum by Fayetteville, the Macon Mayhem were unable to repeat that Sunday afternoon at the Macon Coliseum, losing 4-1 to the Fireantz in a rematch of Saturday night's 4-3 Macon victory.
The loss came in the Mayhem's final home game of the regular season and ended their four-game winning streak.
Macon, which won the night before after leading 4-0, was unable to hold back the Fireantz on Sunday as they scored four unanswered goals after Ryan Michel gave Macon a 1-0 lead in the first period. Fayetteville's Nick Lazorko registered a hat trick for the Fireantz.
Macon (23-26-5) remains one point out of sixth place and one in front of eighth in the SPHL standings in addition to being seven points in front of ninth-place Columbus, which would miss the playoffs is the postseason began today.
The Mayhem play Fayetteville (27-21-3) for the third time in four days Tuesday before wrapping up the regular season Friday at Columbus.
FOUR WHO MATTERED
Michel: The Macon defenseman punched the puck into the back of the net from the right doorstep 13 minutes into the game to put the Mayhem ahead 1-0.
Shawn Skelly: His assist on Michel's goal moved him within a point the overall scoring lead in the SPHL.
Lazorko: He's one of Fayetteville's top scorers, and he showed why Sunday. After tying the game with less than 20 seconds to go in the first period, he put the Fireantz in front for good in the second period when he skated in and got the puck past Macon goalie Garrett Bartus. Lazorko's final goal gave him a hat trick and extended Fayetteville's lead to 4-1 in the third period.
Cole Wilson: His score from the left cushioned Fayetteville's lead 5:13 into the third period to 3-1.
OBSERVATION
Stronger finishes sought: The closing sequences of periods have been unkind to the Mayhem as of late. Fayetteville's game-tying goal near the end of the first period was the second score allowed in the final 20 seconds of a period by Macon in the past three games.
WORTH MENTIONING
Tougher sledding: Macon had a tougher time against Fayetteville goalie Parker Van Buskirk a night after lighting him up for three goals.
THEY SAID IT
Macon goalie Garrett Bartus on what carried over from the third period of Saturday's game into Sunday: "I think we gave them a little bit of momentum there in the third period. We had a 4-0 lead with a minute to go in the second and kind of gave them momentum coming into (Sunday), and they took it to us. They were the better team (Sunday)."
Bartus on the mindset going toward Friday's game against Columbus: "You never want to depend on another team and be sitting there waiting and wondering what's going on with other teams and kind of have your fingers crossed. We'd like to take it into our own hands and get the win Tuesday and (Friday) have a nice week off, let the bodies rest and get ready for the playoffs."
Macon forward Vadim Guskov on the loss: "Fayetteville was simply more desperate (Sunday). We've been playing games all over the place, and with a young team like we are, we're still looking for that winning mentality, and obviously we didn't have it. We weren't concentrated enough (Sunday) and it's obviously a good lesson for us."
WHAT'S NEXT
The Mayhem finish the regular season on the road, playing Tuesday at Fayetteville and Friday at Columbus.
HUNTSVILLE
Position in standings: Sixth
Points: 52
Games remaining: Four
Maximum points it can earn: Eight
MACON
Position in standings: Seventh
Points: 51
Games remaining: Two
Maximum points it can earn: Four
LOUISIANA
Position in standings: Eighth
Points: 50
Games remaining: Four
Maximum points it can earn: Eight
COLUMBUS
Position in standings: Ninth
Points: 44
Games remaining: Five
Maximum points it can earn: 10
This story was originally published March 27, 2016 at 8:37 PM with the headline "Macon Mayhem lose their regular-season home finale ."