EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A season-high seven goals led the Evansville IceMen to their second straight win Friday, a convincing 7-3 victory over the Cincinnati Cyclones in a Midwest Division matchup at the Ford Center.
For just the fifth time this season, Evansville scored the game’s first goal, when Vincent Dunn slid a backhander through the five-hole of Cyclones’ goalie Neil Conway at the end of a 2-on-1 rush midway through the first period. Late in the frame the IceMen converted on their first power play whenSebastian Strandberg batted a rebound out of mid-air to give Evansville a 2-0 lead at the first break..
The IceMen and Cyclones combined for six second period goals. Cincinnati cut Evansville’s lead to 2-1, when Nick Huard scored 35 seconds into the stanza near the end of a Cyclones power play. Then the IceMen blew the door wide open. Matthew Zay scored back-to-back goals two minutes apart to open the lead to 4-1 at 4:32.
Tyson Fawcett scored his 11th goal of the season at 11:35 when he picked up a loose puck off of a blocked shot and beat Conway under the blocker to give the IceMen a 5-1 lead. 40 seconds later,Chris Rumble chased Conway from the game with Evansville’s sixth goal. Brandon Whitney entered the game with 7:45 left in the period and finished the game for Cincinnati.
The Cyclones added a power play goal towards the end of the frame when Peter Quenneville one-timed a shot past IceMen goalie Scott Greenham, who was making his first Evansville start since Halloween. Greenham was loaned back to the IceMen Thursday from Binghamton (AHL), who called up the fourth-year pro November 16.
Cincinnati cut the lead to 6-3 in the third period when Christiaan Minella jammed a loose puck into the net at 5:42. Nathan Moon added an empty-net goal in the final minute, his first goal since he was traded back to Evansville from Colorado November 5, to complete the scoring.
Greenham stopped 26 shots in his second consecutive win, while Conway and Whitney combined for 32 saves. Whitney stopped all 17 he faced in relief.
The two teams will face-off again Saturday at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati at 7:35pm EST.
With Evansville IceMen team release