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Blaze Gain Ground in Playoff Hunt with Win over Mallards

March 12, 2013 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Bloomington Blaze News Release


BLOOMINGTON - The Bloomington Blaze, fueled by Mid-Illini Credit Union, broke a five-game losing streak and gained two important points in the chase for the final Central Hockey League playoff berth with an 8-5 win on Tuesday at U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

The Mallards scored just 1:47 into the game on a second rebound put home by Matt Boyd after previous shots from Anthony Perdicaro and Mickey Lang. Jared Walker evened the game at 1-1 when he put home a rebound at the doorstep of a Travis Granbois shot also assisted by Sean O'Connor with 11:58 left in the first period, but the Mallards answered just 30 seconds later to gain a 2-1 lead on a Lang tally assisted by Obi Aduba.

Quad City built the lead to 3-1 when Obi Aduba took a feed from behind the net after a scrum from Anthony Perdicaro with 10:42 remaining in the second period. The Blaze cut the margin to 3-2 with 5:49 remaining when Dan Barczuk's original shot hit the right post and bounced along the goal line, followed by Barczuk hustling to the puck to tap it into the net. A power play goal by David Gilbert to complete a tic-tac-toe from Travis Granbois and Leo Thomas with 3:18 left in the middle chapter to tie the game at 3-3.

The Blaze gained their first lead at 4-3 just 35 seconds into the third period when Brett Lutes captured a turnover at center ice and took a return pass from Jon Booras for a top-shelf drive from the slot. The Blaze pushed their lead to 5-3 on a power play goal by Matthew Larke, who deflected a drive with 9:53 remaining on assists from Lutes and Gilbert. The Flock cut their deficit to 5-4 with 4:50 left in regulation when Shayne Toporowski lifted a top-shelfer from the right circle, but Jon Booras answered for the Blaze with a rebound goal just 33 seconds later on assists from Gilbert and Lutes. The Mallards countered again with an extra-attacker goal from from Darren McMillan assisted by Toporowski with 1:16 left, but Lutes scored into the empty net with 29.5 seconds left and Barczuk scored a runner from the slot with 17.3 seconds left for the win.

Pier-Olivier Pelletier earned the win in net with 26 saves while Neil Conway took the loss with 33 stops. The Blaze were 2-of-4 on the power play while the Mallards were 0-for-3.

The eight Blaze goals equals a franchise-high set on December 15 of this season at Tulsa. Quad City and Arizona remain tied for seventh place and currently hold the final two playoff positions, but with the Blaze win and Arizona's 2-1 loss at Allen on Tuesday, the Blaze are now six points behind those squads with seven games remaining ahead of Friday's Blaze-Mallards rematch.

The Blaze visit the Mallards nest on Friday at iWireless Center in Moline for a 7:05 p.m. face-off, then return home Saturday at 7:05 p.m. and Sunday at 4:05 p.m. to host the Denver Cutthroats. The Junior Blaze conclude their regular season before the Blaze games this weekend with face-offs at 3 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday against the Rhinelander Street Cats at U.S. Cellular Coliseum with admission included in the Blaze ticket.

For more information on the Blaze, visit www.bloomingtonblaze.com, Facebook and Twitter (BLMBlaze) or call 309-TC SPORT (827-7678). For single-game and game day tickets, visit the U.S. Cellular Coliseum box office between 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. weekdays or call 309-434-2679.

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