BILOXI, MS - A pair of power-play goals from Matt Zultek and another from Matthew Larke drove the Surge to a 3-2 victory on home ice over the Fayetteville FireAntz at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum on Thursday evening.Early in the first period, Mississippi found themselves in penalty trouble when Chris Greene was whistled for a five-minute major and a game misconduct penalty for his check from behind on Fayetteville's Joey Olson at 4:16, and shortly thereafter, the Surge found themselves two men down when Steve Weidlich was called for tripping at 5:15. A brilliant penalty-killing effort held Fayetteville off the scoreboard through the two power plays. The Antz, however, drew first blood when Rob Sich scored his fifth goal in three games against Mississippi at 14:27, blasting a slap shot under the pad of Mississippi netminder Ryan Senft.
Mississippi battled back when Matt Zultek scored a pair of power play goals 43 seconds apart in the second period. At 10:26, Zultek tucked in the rebound of Daryl Moor's shot, and then Zultek fired a laser into the top corner to give the Surge a 2-1 lead at 11:09 of the second.
Matthew Larke picked up his second goal of the season on the power play when his shot from the top of the slot eluded Fayetteville goaltender Bryan Bridges at 6:57 of the second.
The Antz drew within one at 18:37 of the third when Chris Leveille broke down the ice two-on-one shorthanded with Sich, elected to shoot and found the back of the net for the shorthand goal.
The Surge were 3-for-9 on the power play and a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. Ryan Senft made 27 saves to earn his first win of the season.
The Surge's next home game is Friday, November 13 against the Columbus Cottonmouths at 7:30 p.m. The Surge will introduce their mascot, and the first 1,500 fans 14 & under will get a glow-in-the-dark goalie mask courtesy of Kicker 107 and Z95.3! Get your tickets by calling (228) 287-PUCK!
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