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Denver —
As Missouri Mavericks coach Scott Hillman and assistant director of hockey operations Simon Watson visited before Monday’s President’s Day matinee against the Denver Cutthroats at Denver Coliseum, Hillman quipped, “I feel like it’s going to be a 6-5 game today.”
The Mavericks coach came oh-so-close to predicting the final outcome as Dave Pszenyczny’s empty-net goal in the closing seconds accounted for the final 7-5 score in favor of Hillman's team.
“I’m happy with 7-5,” Hillman said, laughing, “but Chezzy’s goal ruined my prediction.”
The win was huge as the Mavericks once again tied the first-year Cutthroats for fourth place in the CHL standings. The Mavericks are 26-19-4 and Denver is 25-21-6. Each team has 56 points.
The win is even more important as the Mavericks are coming off a disappointing 5-3 loss to the Allen Americans Saturday night at the Independence Events Center in which Allen used a late empty-net goal to account for the two-goal win.
“This win is huge, just huge,” Hillman said by phone Monday as the team boarded its bus for the ride back to Independence. “We have a few days off before we go to Fort Worth on Friday.”
Hillman said the team will sign a veteran player within the next two days, but could not release the player’s name on Monday.
J.P. Testwuide, who lives in Denver, signed a one-day contract with the Mavs as injuries have depleted the roster. Defensemen David Simoes (upper body) and Kyle Hood (lower body) were lost for an indefinite amount of time this past weekend.
“We’re low on bodies, but the player we’re bringing in should really help, “ Hillman said.
“That was a wild west shootout,” Hillman added. “Our special teams were the difference in the game and Colt King is on fire for us right now.”
After giving up two goals in the opening 3:46, Missouri rebounded and tied the game before the end of the first period. Trevor Kell scored in front of the net at the 4:24 mark, and King scored on the power play to tie the game at 2-2.
“Kinger has just been incredible,” Hillman said. “His line (John-Scott Dickson and Kell) are playing like they have played together forever, with a lot of chemistry. They’re really producing.”
The Mavericks earned their first lead of the game when Dickson scored at the 5:56 mark of the second period, but the seesaw battle continued as the Cutthroats scored the next two goals to regain the lead.
As Missouri Mavericks coach Scott Hillman and assistant director of hockey operations Simon Watson visited before Monday’s President’s Day matinee against the Denver Cutthroats at Denver Coliseum, Hillman quipped, “I feel like it’s going to be a 6-5 game today.”
The Mavericks coach came oh-so-close to predicting the final outcome as Dave Pszenyczny’s empty-net goal in the closing seconds accounted for the final 7-5 score in favor of Hillman's team.
“I’m happy with 7-5,” Hillman said, laughing, “but Chezzy’s goal ruined my prediction.”
The win was huge as the Mavericks once again tied the first-year Cutthroats for fourth place in the CHL standings. The Mavericks are 26-19-4 and Denver is 25-21-6. Each team has 56 points.
The win is even more important as the Mavericks are coming off a disappointing 5-3 loss to the Allen Americans Saturday night at the Independence Events Center in which Allen used a late empty-net goal to account for the two-goal win.
“This win is huge, just huge,” Hillman said by phone Monday as the team boarded its bus for the ride back to Independence. “We have a few days off before we go to Fort Worth on Friday.”
Hillman said the team will sign a veteran player within the next two days, but could not release the player’s name on Monday.
J.P. Testwuide, who lives in Denver, signed a one-day contract with the Mavs as injuries have depleted the roster. Defensemen David Simoes (upper body) and Kyle Hood (lower body) were lost for an indefinite amount of time this past weekend.
“We’re low on bodies, but the player we’re bringing in should really help, “ Hillman said.
“That was a wild west shootout,” Hillman added. “Our special teams were the difference in the game and Colt King is on fire for us right now.”
After giving up two goals in the opening 3:46, Missouri rebounded and tied the game before the end of the first period. Trevor Kell scored in front of the net at the 4:24 mark, and King scored on the power play to tie the game at 2-2.
“Kinger has just been incredible,” Hillman said. “His line (John-Scott Dickson and Kell) are playing like they have played together forever, with a lot of chemistry. They’re really producing.”
The Mavericks earned their first lead of the game when Dickson scored at the 5:56 mark of the second period, but the seesaw battle continued as the Cutthroats scored the next two goals to regain the lead.
Mikael Bedard scored his second goal of the game and Chris Greene gave Denver a 4-3 lead with three minutes to go in the second period. Missouri answered before the intermission when Sebastien Thinel redirected the puck past Denver goaltender Kieran Millan, and the teams were tied at 4-4.
“A big goal by Thinel,” Hillman said. “He attacked the puck like a power forward. That goal really seemed to get us going.”
Kenton Miller gave the Mavericks the lead for good at the 5:27 mark of the third period when he took a cross-ice feed from Thinel and snapped the puck into the Denver net.
King made it 6-4 on his second power-play goal of the game at 8:45. The Cutthroats pulled their goaltender and scored with the extra attacker to make it a 6-5 game with 57 seconds to go, but they couldn’t score the equalizer.
Just 38 seconds later Pszenyczny celebrated his birthday and scored a goal from nearly 200 feet away into the empty net when he banged the puck off the glass in the Mavericks’ end and it went the length of the ice into Denver’s net.
Mavericks goaltender Mathieu Corbeil finished with 28 saves on 33 shots in the win and his counterpart Millan had 23 saves on 29 shots in the loss.
The Mavericks scored 18 goals in three games in Denver this season and finished 2-0-1 at Denver Coliseum.
King had a big night in Saturday’s loss with a goal and two assists while Dickson added two points with a goal and an assist.
Allen's Adam Pineault had a pair of goals, while Kale Kerbashian also ended the night with two points.
Allen quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Pineault scored on the power play at the 7:11 mark, and then Kerbashian made it a two-goal lead just 1:11 later. Missouri answered and tied the game on a power-play goal by King and an even-strength goal by Dickson.
The Americans scored the only goal of the second period. It was a penalty-filled third period as Missouri tied the game on Kell’s eighth goal of the season when he bounced the puck off the back of Americans goaltender Aaron Dell.
Pineault scored his second of the game, a shorthanded goal at the 6:21 mark to give Allen a 4-3 lead.
Missouri had multiple chances following Allen’s go-ahead goal, including two five-on-three power plays, but the Mavericks were unable to get the puck past Dell to tie it.
“This is one you forget about, and get ready for Denver,” King said, prophetically. “We know we can go to Denver and get a big win, and that’s what we have to do.”
