MOLINE, Ill. – The Missouri Mavericks earned their third straight win of the 2016 ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs on Wednesday night, topping the Quad City Mallards 4-2 on the road at the iWireless Center in Game 3 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals.
Missouri scored three times in the third period to stun the Mallards in their home arena, with Josh Robinson in goal stopping 22 of 24 shots on goal.
“It’s a game we needed to play a full sixty minutes of,” said Richard Matvichuk, Head Coach & Director of Hockey Operations for the Missouri Mavericks following the Game 3 win. “The guys battled hard through the whole game, we stuck to our system, and it paid off in the end.”
The Mallards made the first mark on the scoreboard at 4:05 of the opening period when Matt Neal slipped the puck past Robinson in a short-handed situation. The Mavericks answered back to tie the game 1-1 when defenseman Bryce Anoloski knocked in a rebound past Quad City net-minder Brody Hoffman at 7:15 of the first period. Carter Verhaeghe collected the lone assist on Anoloski’s first goal and point of the post-season.
Olivier Archambault regained the lead for the #8 Mallards at 5:38 of the second frame, scoring the only tally of the period.
The Mavericks made quick work of tying up the game at the top of the third period when leading goal-scorerTyler Barnes notched an equalizer tally just 47 seconds into the final frame of regulation. Verhaeghe andRocco Carzo assisted on the play.
Then David deKastrozza scored the eventual game-winning goal with 4:27 to play in regulation with a short-handed goal that ricocheted off the glove of Hoffman and to the back of the Mallards net for a 3-2 Missouri lead. Darren Nowick was credited with the helper on deKastrozza’s first goal of the playoffs.
Reed Seckel drove to the net with the puck late in the frame only to be interfered with from behind by a Mallards player, drawing a penalty shot, which Seckel, mano a mano with Hoffman, took to the twine for a 4-2 Mavericks lead at 17:11 of the third period.
Quad City pulled Hoffman for a sixth skater and regrouped with a timeout in the final minutes of the game, but were unable to fight their way back into the contest. Missouri’s 4-2 win in Game 3 puts the regular-season point champion up 3-0 in their opening series of the Kelly Cup Playoffs.
Round 1 will continue in Moline, IL at the iWireless Center on Friday, Apr. 22 (7:05p.m.). If necessary, the series will continue on Saturday, Apr. 23 (7:05p.m.) at the iWireless Center for Game 5 and then return to Silverstein Eye Centers Arena on Tuesday, Apr. 26 (7:05p.m.) and Wednesday, Apr. 27 (7:05p.m.) for Game 6 and Game 7.
With Missouri Mavericks release
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