Mavericks beat Americans 5-2 to tie series

INDEPENDENCE, MO – The Missouri Mavericks came back with a vengeance against the Allen Americans in game two of the Kelly Cup Western Conference Semi-Final series Saturday night, evening the series 1-1 with a 5-2 win.

Missouri dominated Allen in the opening frame, making three of their eight shots for the period count as CJ Ludwig, Tyler Barnes and Darren Nowick all found the back of the net, taking a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. Two of the goals, from Barnes and Nowick were with the man advantage as the Mavericks went two for three on the power play while limiting Allen’s anemic offensive effort to a paltry three shots in the period.

The Mavericks extended their lead to 4-0 when Rocco Carzo lit the lamp at the 7:06 mark of the second period. Shortly following Missouri’s fourth goal of the game, Riley Gill was replaced in net by Joel Rumpel which seemed to spark some life into the Americans in the final frame.

In the third period Barnes netted his second goal of the night to lead Missouri to a 5-0 lead, scoring on one of only two shots Allen allowed on their net. Pouring on the offense, Allen finally got on the board when Casey Pierro-Zabotel scored for Allen with less than five minutes remaining followed soon after by Chad Costello with a power play goal a minute and a half later. Allen was able to cut the lead to 5-2 but it was too little, too late as the damage was already done and time ran out before the Americans could close the gap any further.