HUNTSVILLE, ALA. – After losing game one of its best-of-three SPHL playoff series in overtime, the Huntsville Havoc were looking Friday night to stay alive and play another day. It took some more late heroics and more free hockey but for the Havoc it was mission accomplished.
Mike MacDonald scored 6:23 into the first overtime to lift the Havoc to a 4-3 victory over the Augusta RiverHawks at the Von Braun Center. The win tied the series at one game apiece and set up a winner-take-all game three Saturday night back at the James Brown Arena in Augusta.
MacDonald’s tally came when he got the puck from teammate Alex Morton and blistered a shot past Augusta goalie Jon Olthuis. It ended a frustrating extra period for the RiverHawks who had a power play opportunity to win the game but failed and a penalty shot by Neil Graham that Havoc netminder Mark Sibbald turned away.
The opening period was a fast-paced, low stoppage flurry of activity that featured the goalies. Sibbald was the busier of the two, having to make 12 saves including a pair from RiverHawks forward Justin Levac from point-blank range. Olthuis faced just seven shots at his end of the ice but he had to be on his toes for each one. His best sequence may have been the three saves he made in a span of less than 30 seconds late in the period.
The scoring fireworks began early in the middle stanza. Shortly after Olthuis had stood tall against two Havoc shots, Augusta’s Egor Mironov beat Sibbald to give the visitors the lead at the 2:13 mark. Huntsville came back with an answer a minute later when Reddin one-timed a pass from Justin Fox into the back of the Augusta net to tie the score.
Just under two minutes after he scored, Reddin returned the favor by setting up Fox for a goal of his own. The tally at the 5:02 mark gave the Havoc their first – and as it turned out only until the game winning goal – lead of the contest. Not to be outdone, RiverHawks captain Matt Auffrey, who was the hero in game one, scored at the 7:45 mark off of a feed from Graham to once again bring the score to a tie. Augusta dominated the final ten minutes of the period, pumping seven of its 14 shots in the frame on Sibbald while holding the Havoc without a shot but the score stayed at 2-2.
Despite taking a penalty, Huntsville controlled the opening moments of the third, keeping the RiverHawks off the shot board until Jim Gehring put a wrist shot past Sibbald on the glove side at the 5:24 mark. With time starting to tick away, the Havoc began to press harder and harder looking for the goal that would bring them even.
With 1:21 to go in regulation, Havoc interim coach Glenn Detulleo pulled Sibbald in favor of an extra attacker. The move worked to perfection when with 51 seconds between them and the off-season, Reddin whistled a shot into the net behind Olthuis to knot the score for the third time in the contest. Augusta had one last chance to win in regulation but Sibbald stopped Graham with three seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Game Notes: Augusta out-shot Huntsville 35-27 in the game, 3-2 in the overtime period…Neither team’s power play units were effective as the RiverHawks went 0-for-4 while the Havoc went 0-for-3…Sibbald stopped 32 shots to pick up the win. He now has 61 saves on 68 shots faced in the two games played so far…Attendance for the game was announced as 2,019…Puck drop for game three Saturday night at the James Brown Arena is 7:35 pm.
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