Texas Brahmas win 5-2 in overtime thriller

Jordan Cameron makes impact in return to NYTEX

The Texas Brahmas won in glorious fashion last night giving the 8-2-0 Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs their first overtime loss of the season. The Brahmas improved to 6-3-1 on the season in a game that saw the return of right wing Jordan Cameron and the introduction of new defenseman Eric Lundberg.

The Brahmas scored two goals in 36 seconds to open up the first period. Marc Belanger scored first, taking a feed from Matt Quinn and Kevin McLeod to put the puck past Jon Horrell at the 2:09 mark. Jordan Cameron gave the Brahmas a 2-1 lead with an unassisted goal 2:45 into the match. The game started with very clean play, with the first penalty coming at the 10 minute mark.

The Mudbugs came roaring back in the first period though, first breaking through with Joe Blaznek’s powerplay goal at 11:50 that got them on the board. Just over two minutes later, the Bugs tied the game at two during a three-on-three situation when Kevin Cooper drove wide on the defense and beat Brett Jaeger for his seventh goal of the year. Late in the period, Bossier-Shreveport took the lead when Tyrel Lucas fired a sharp-angle shot into the top corner on another powerplay to make it 3-2 after one. The Mudbugs outshot the Brahmas 12-9.

Neither team scored in the second period. The Mudbugs’ penalty killing unit was tested with four consecutive Texas powerplays but stood tall, killing off all four shorthanded situations to take the 3-2 lead into the third period.

The Mudbugs added to the lead when Neil Clark scored his fifth of the season on a rebound in the third to make it 4-2. The Brahmas weren’t finished though, getting a powerplay goal from Kevin McLeod to cut the lead to one before Kinnunen’s big tally that tied it with just eight ticks left on the clock.

"Skworchinski and Kinnunen made a great play," Brahmas coach Dan Wildfong told the Fort Worth Star Telegram. "They were really standing up at the line and we finally won a race. Kinnunen is a special player. He’s the first one in and last one out."

Dave Pszenyczny was then called for holding in the overtime period to set up Texas’ powerplay chance. Jacobsen tipped home a centering pass from Pete Rouleau to give the Brahmas their second win over the Bugs this year.

"We weren’t happy with the way we played all night," Wildfong said. "We had to get back to outworking them. They were flat-out outworking us. But we stuck together and found a way to win," Wildfong said.

Texas won the shot battle 33-25 in the contest. The Mudbugs were 2-for-6 on the powerplay in the game, while Texas converted 2 of 11 chances in total.

Brett Jaeger improved to 5-1-1 with a 2.81 GAA (6th in the league) and a .907 save percentage (8th in the league).

You can view the box score here

You can view photos from the game here

The Brahmas host the 5-6-1 New Mexico Scorpions tonight at NYTEX. The game starts at 7:05pm and will be broadcast on Nifty-TV.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith

Paragraphs 2-5 from the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs press release