Cyclones snap skid with offensive explosion

Independence, MO- The Cincinnati Cyclones (23-18-2-0) earned a 5-1 over the Kansas City Mavericks on Friday night. Forward Justin Danforth led the way with a pair of goals, while forwards Alex Kile and Justin Vaive, along with defenseman Jake Flegel, added lone tallies for the Cyclones, who snap their four-game skid.

Cincinnati struck first with a little more than six minutes remaining in the first, when Danforth raced up the middle of the ice on a partial breakaway and slipped a shot five-hole on Mavericks goaltender Chris Nell to give the Cyclones a 1-0 lead.

That lead became 2-0 with four seconds to go when Danforth found some space on the left wing and turned the corner on a defender, and he lifted the puck in past Nell to give the ‘Clones a two-goal edge after 20 minutes.

The second saw the offense continue to produce for the Cyclones, as 6:41 in, a shot from forward Brandon McNally was turned aside by Nell, but Kile was there to slam the rebound in on the back door to give Cincinnati a 3-0 lead.

That lead became 4-0 two minutes later when a point shot from defenseman Eric Knodelwas deflected in by Vaive for his 15th goal of the season

The Mavericks responded with a power play tally of their own from forward Mark Cooperto put Kansas City on the board, and trim their deficit to 4-1 after two periods.

Cincinnati put the game out of reach for good late in the third when Flegel took the puck at the right blueline and hammered a drive in to send the ‘Clones to a 5-1 win.

Cincinnati was outshot, 35-27 on the night, with goaltender Jonas Johansson steering aside 34 in the win. The Cyclones and Mavericks wrap up the weekend on Saturdaynight, with the face-off slated for 8:05pm ET.

With Cincinnati Cyclones release

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