ALLEN, Texas – The Allen Americans fell to the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs for the second time in the Berry Conference Final series where the count now stands at two games to one in the Mudbugs’ favor.
The Americans will have to win at least one game in Bossier City this weekend to force another game on their home ice.
Allen Head Coach Dwight Mullins tried shaking things up in game three Wednesday night, juggling the lines in hopes of lighting a spark in a team that has to this point, been struggling in their play as of late.
The only line that stayed intact was the Bonk-Blackwater-Yellow Horn line which has been good at generating offensive tries throughout the playoffs and in this series, but even they fell into the solo effort syndrome in game three that has been plaguing the team in this series against the ‘Bugs.
The Americans were given two chances early on with consecutive power plays in the first five minutes Wednesday night. After the explosive and devastating power play performance in game two by Allen, where they scored three straight goals on three power plays within the span of 2:21, the Bossier bench collectively held their breath.
Mike Berube
The ‘Bugs shut down the slot area on the penalty kill but the Americans hardly even pressed the issue through the middle, passing the puck along the periphery looking like they had little confidence in their shooting.
Credit goes to the ‘Bugs for keeping the Americans at bay throughout most of the play in the series both on the power play and at even strength to this point. The biggest key for the ‘Bugs has been their tight neutral zone play and strong backchecking, severely limiting the Americans slick passing and high-tempo offense to come into play.
When choked by a defense like this, the Americans tend to rely too much on solo efforts, forsaking the quick, snappy passing and fast-paced team play hockey that won them the Governor’s Cup this season and drove their comeback from a 0-2 deficit against
The times when the Americans play relaxed, confident, wide-open hockey is when they dominate the play, but they’ve been unable to carry that through an entire three periods in any one game yet in this series.
Down 2-1 in the series, they cannot allow Bossier to dictate the flow of play anymore and must be confident in, and rely on the tools that have gotten them this far.
The ‘Bugs opened the scoring when David Rutherford netted his fifth goal of the playoffs at the 12:40 mark. At even strength, Rutherford popped the puck past a sprawled Chris Whitley in the Americans net who was unable to recover after a collision with Dave Bonk in his crease.
Travis Clayton
The Americans came out in the second period looking stronger and started out commanding the flow of play. Another Americans power play early on was limited again to a lone shot on goal but overall the Americans were out shooting the ‘Bugs 7-3 by the midway point of the middle frame.
The Americans’ best chance in the period came during a 4-on-3 power play situation when Nino Musitelli rang a one-timer off the left post, one of the few the power play was able to manage.
The rest of the second period was much like the first and others in the series. The ‘Bugs proved themselves a suffocating presence through the neutral zone and built a virtual wall at the blue line that the Americans were determined to try to pick at individually rather than attacking en masse.
The one positive for the Americans when it comes to special teams in these playoffs has been their power play, which has been strong and surprisingly enough has generated more offensive chances on a consistent basis than their power play has. It would be thanks to that penalty kill and the increasingly stellar performance of Americans captain Tobias Whelan that the Americans would finally get on the board.
Kip Brennan was given a five minute boarding major when he pasted Brett Smith to the boards at 1:23 of the third period, giving the ‘Bugs their best chance of icing the game but the Americans penalty kill unit did an outstanding job limiting the ‘Bugs chances.
With 2:46 seconds of the five-minute major killed, Whelan stole up the ice with the puck on his stick, beautifully split the ‘Bugs defenseman and wristed one past John DeCaro’s glove to even the score 1-1.
The ‘Bugs didn’t let the five minute power play go to waste though, and 1:25 later would once again take the lead when Jamie Milam fired a shot through traffic and past Whitley to put Bossier back on top 2-1.
For a ten minute stretch in the third, the game really opened up and the tempo increased dramatically for the Americans. Allen went on a very aggressive run, pinching the defensemen and applying tremendous pressure on Bossier.
Allen once again, ran into trouble handling the puck with about five minutes to go in the period. Unable to make clean passes they slipped back into the solo effort syndrome that halts their progression when passing eludes them.
Nick Layton scores
Bossier wouldn’t be denied the win however, sticking to their game plan of smothering the Americans they forced a turnover in the neutral zone and Nick Layton played the hero for the ‘Bugs firing the game winning goal past Whitley with 1:11 left in regulation.
The series now heads back to the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, where games four and five will be played starting this Friday at 7:30 PM CST.
Contact the author at maurice.fitzgerald@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at chip.crail@prohockeynews.com
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