OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla – There is a very good chance the Oklahoma City fans had a delightful first period intermission as their club was up by two goals and had taken the lead in shots. But the rest of the show was a nightmare for the partisan crowd as their team blew two leads and were outshot by a 29-8 margin over the final forty minutes of the game. The results would have been even more horrible for the club if not for the play of netminder Doug Groenestege who came up with 31 saves on the night. Jeff MacDermid opened the scoring early when he converted a Brian Passmore set-up behind Mississippi netminder Kevin Beech. It appeared a convincing win for the home club might be in the offering when DJ Jelitto wristed a shot behind Beech with 17:32 expired in the opening frame. There are those who say fighting has no place in hockey, but it would be hard to convince the RiverKings on this night that a tussle did not kickstart the club. As the two teams lined up for the faceoff following Jelitto’s score Mississippi’s Adam Smyth got into it with the Blazers Robin Gomez and it would be hard for anyone to argue Mississippi did not get some life into them after the bout. Mississippi made their first run at the Blazers in the second period, one they would dominate in shots by a 19-3 margin, when Matt Summers finished off Jeff Nelson’s feed. Defenseman Andrew Lackner tied the contest when his point shot flew past a screened Groenestege. Ted Vandermeer fought against the tide and a large portion of the Mississippi defense when his singular effort miraculously put the Blazers back up heading into the third period. While the final period would not be as much in favor of the RiverKings as the second had been the visitors, they would win for the fifth time in Oklahoma City this year when Stephen Margeson and Bobby Chaumont scored unanswered goals. Mississippi fired 10 shots on Groenestege during the period while the RiverKings limited the Blazers to five shots with a defense that smothered the Blazers. Margeson banged in a rebound of his own shot early in the period to tie the contest and Chaumont registered the game-winner when he cleanly beat Groenestege with a wrist shot with just over five minutes left in the game. The two clubs will battle in what could be a pivotal fourth game of the series on Thursday night in Oklahoma City. Should the Blazers manage a home-ice win they will essentially turn the series into a best-of-three. However, should Mississippi take the contest they will only have to win one more game to move on to the next round of the CHL playoffs.
Contact the author at tom.schettino@prohockeynews.com .
