SOUTHAVEN, Miss – It is said that the toughest game to win in the playoffs is the series-ending one. The reason: the team about to be sent home doesn’t want to go so soon.
That was the case Friday night at the Landers Center as the Knoxville Ice Bears got a 45-save effort from goalie Kyle Rank and took advantage of man advantage chances to defeat the Mississippi RiverKings 4-2. The Ice Bears’ victory tied the best-of-three series at one win apiece, setting up a win-or-go-home game three Sunday afternoon at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.
Still stinging from the loss on Wednesday, coach Mike Craigen needed his Ice Bears to play with more intensity after allowing the RiverKings to run over them. Mississippi coach Derek Landmesser also wanted more out of his troops, knowing that they needed to put away Knoxville when the chance presented itself. What resulted was a first period that looked like a shootout at the OK Corral.
Both goalies, Kyle Rank for Knoxville and David Wilson for Mississippi, were kept pretty busy for much of the period. The first four minutes featured Wilson, who stopped four shots including stoning Knoxville’s Emery Olauson. Seconds later, a penalty to Olauson ignited the RiverKings’ offense as they pounded six shots on Rank in just over two minutes.
Shortly after Mississippi failed with the man advantage, Knoxville was given a shot when RiverKings defenseman Kyle Lundale was nabbed for interference. 45 seconds into the power play, Ice Bear star Kevin Swider, set up in his office below the goal line, fed a pass to Olauson who rifled a shot past Wilson for his third goal in four periods and a Knoxville lead.
The goal got the attention of the Mississippi team and the 2,662 in attendance and the RiverKings responded with another flurry of pressure wrapped around another Knoxville penalty. In the final minute of the period, the Ice Bears got one last chance on the power play and like the first time, they made it pay off. Just eleven seconds into the advantage, David Segal picked up his second goal of the playoffs to give Knoxville a 2-0 lead going into the intermission.
Mississippi needed a pick-me up in a hurry and got it just past the three minute mark of the second. It came in the form of Justin MacDonald using a Deven Stillar screen to fire a backhander past Rank to trim the lead to 2-1. It was the only score in a period that saw a total of 18 shots on net between the two teams – slightly less than the combined 35 shots (20 of them for Mississippi) in the first.
Clinging to the one-goal lead, the Ice Bears wanted that all-important third goal to restore a little elbow room. It came 1:44 into the final period off of an unlikely stick blade. Knoxville forward Mike Town won an offensive zone face-off back to defenseman Tyler Fletcher at the point. Looking to just get the puck on net, Fletcher sent in a shot that at first didn’t look all that dangerous until it managed to find its way past Wilson and into the net, restoring the two-goal lead his team had after one.
Faced with the prospect of having to head back to Knoxville, the RiverHawks tried to mount an all-out attack on Rank and the Ice Bears defense. Rank, who at times looked nervous on Wednesday night, was rock solid on this evening, thwarting everything coming his way. Down the other end, Mississippi’s defense allowed several glittering opportunities of its own, forcing Wilson to stand on his head just to keep the game within reach.
The RiverKings got one final opportunity to close the gap when Knoxville’s Dan Bremner was called for a penalty with 52 seconds left in regulation. With Wilson on the bench creating a two-man advantage, Matt Whitehead fired a shot that caromed off of the leg of an Ice Bears defenseman and past Rank. The goal came with 18.7 ticks left which was not enough time for Mississippi to complete the comeback. Swider sealed the win with an empty net tally just before the clock ran out.
Game Notes: Mississippi out-shot Knoxville 47-38 in the game… In two games, the RiverKings hold a 71-67 shot advantage…The Ice Bears’ power play, referred to as anemic at times during the regular season, connected twice in three chances in game two and is now 4-for-8 in the series. After going 1-for-4 Friday, the RiverKings are 1-for-5 in the two contests…Start time for Sunday’s game three is 5:05 PM eastern.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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