SOUTHAVEN, Miss. – The Mississippi RiverKings rallied from three one-goal, first period deficits and scored the final three goals, including two in the second to beat the Fayetteville FireAntz, 5-3, at the Landers Center Friday night. The wins moves the RiverKings a point ahead of Fayetteville with 30 points and into playoff position in the league standings.
The first period started off with the FireAntz grabbing a lead on the game’s first power 
play. Just seven seconds into the man advantage Randy Cameron fired a shot from the right point. It deflected past Adam Courchaine off the stick of RiverKings forward Bryon Paulazzo, giving Fayetteville a 1-0 lead. The RiverKings tied the game shortly thereafter with an unassisted goal from Devin Mantha. He intercepted the puck in the offensive zone and ripped a shot from the left circle under the crossbar for his eighth goal of the year.
Seven minutes into the first, the FireAntz took their second one-goal lead on a slap shot goal from Kyle McNeil at the right circle, assisted by Jan Safar. Four minutes before the end of the first, RiverKings Captain Leo Thomas tied the game with an unassisted goal. His shot from the bottom of the left circle was initially stopped by Curtis Martinu, but the rebound bounced straight up, grazed the crossbar and rolled off his back and in for a 2-2 tie. The FireAntz closed the first period with a goal from Mike Kavanagh, assisted by Derek Elliott and Matt Robertson to take their third lead. His one-timer from the left circle bounced off Sean Jones.
Seven minutes into the second, Justin Gvora put a goal on the scoreboard for the RiverKings. In his first game back after missing 18 with a hand injury, Gvora pounced on a loose puck in the crease to knot the score at three. Reid Campbell and Linden Bahm assisted the goal. Campbell, along with Mantha, would go on to assist on the go-ahead goal for the RiverKings. Those two worked the puck into the offensive zone while on the penalty kill. Campbell fed Paulazzo, who fired a shot from the left circle for the team’s first shorthanded goal of the year, giving the RiverKings a 4-3 lead.
The RiverKings survived a penalty-filled third period, which included 11 combined infractions and eventually get an empty-net goal by Bahm, closing the 5-3 victory for the RiverKings.
Notes: The RiverKings are back to .500 (14-14-2) for the first time this season… With two assists tonight Reid Campbell has his second multi-point game in a row and has four assists in his last two games… With a goal and assist Devin Mantha has five points (2g, 3a) in the last two games… Linden Bahm’s two point game (1g, 1a) is his second multi-point game of the season.
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