Defending champs close out Mavericks to return to second-straight conference final

INDEPENDENCE, MO – It was another must-win situation for the Missouri Mavericks on Tuesday night as they looked to stave off elimination at the hands of the Allen Americans in game six. Despite a valiant effort, the Mavericks fell short of forcing a game seven and were eliminated by a score of 5-1.

Allen notched that important first goal near the midpoint of the first period when Chad Costello struck with a power play marker at 9:03. The Mavericks answered back with an even-strength goal of their own from Ross Johnstonseven minutes later to level the score at 1-1, where it remained through the balance of the period.

At 4:27 of the middle frame, The Americans regained their lead on a power play goal by Casey Pierro-Zabotel which was the lone goal of the period. Allen continued to outshoot Missouri through two periods by a count of 22-16.

Early in the third period Allen extended their lead to 3-1 when Greger Hanson fired a short-side shot past Josh Robinson just 72 seconds in. The Allen goal prompted the Mavericks to step up the attack, as they outshot Allen for the first time all game, doubling them up for the period 17-8.

It was all for naught however as Greger Hanson potted an empty netter at 17:24 to put Allen up 4-1. Then Dyson Stevenson capped the scoring for the Americans with an empty net goal of his own with just 39 ticks left on the clock to give Allen the 5-1 victory.