Cottonmouths slip past IceGators in OT
November 24, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release
Lafayette, LA - Brent Cullaton scored at 3:18 of overtime to lift the Columbus Cottonmouths to a wild 7-6 win over the Louisiana IceGators at the Cajundome. Sean McAslin and Jerome Bechard each scored two goals for Columbus, which snapped a season-high four-game losing streak â including a 7-3 loss to the IceGators last night.
Cullaton's goal ruined a memorable comeback by Louisiana, which scored two goals in the final 2:34, including the game-tying goal by Shawn McNeil with 47 seconds left. Bruce Richardson, coming off his four-goal, five-point game Saturday, scored two goals and added an assist for the IceGators, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Frederic Cloutier stopped 18-of-25 shots, while Daniel Goneau and Kevin Mitchell each chipped in with three assists.
The IceGators trailed 6-4 with 8:03 left after McAslin's second goal of the night. Louisiana kept up the pressure, getting within one goal at the 17:26 mark. Tony Tuzzolino's attempt at the goal line was stuffed, and the puck came to Mitchell at the right point. Mitchell sent a cross-ice pass to Richardson, who beat Matus Kostur (41 saves).
After a timeout with just more than a minute remaining, McNeil tied the game with 47 seconds left. Goneau fell down behind the net but managed to keep control of the puck and get it to McNeil at the top of the right circle. McNeil lit the limp with his team-best 14th goal of the season.
Kostur preserved the tie heading into the extra session with five seconds left, foiling Goneau's partial breakaway.
Cloutier stopped what easily could have been the game-winner earlier in overtime. Mike Bishai broke in all alone on Cloutier and went low stick side, and Cloutier somehow kicked the puck away and covered it up.
Bishai, a rookie out of Western Michigan, worked a perfect give-and-go with Cullaton to set up the game-winning goal. Cullaton dropped the puck to Bishai at the blueline on a 2-on-1 and got the puck back streaking down the right side. Cullaton waited for Cloutier to commit, then beat the sprawling netminder at the 3:18 mark of overtime.
The game went back-and-forth the entire night, with neither team scoring more than two consecutive goals and neither team holding a two-goal edge until Columbus took the 6-4 lead in the third.
Nathan Rempel established a new career-high with his eighth goal, at the 4:32 mark of the first period with two seconds left on a high sticking call to Ales Solinar. Mitchell emerged from the boards with a loose puck amongst a group of players and got the puck to Rempel in the left wing. Rempel went low glove side on Kostur for the game's first goal. The assist made Mitchell just the 19th player in IceGators history to accumulate 50 assists.
Columbus evened the score at the 9:26 mark with Shawn Skiehar off for slashing. Ryan Risodore fired a shot from the left point, and McAslin redirected the puck from the slot on just Columbus' second goal of the game.
The IceGators had two excellent chances to take the lead back late in the first. Rod Sarich couldn't get the handle on the puck with an open net in front of him, and Richardson had an apparent goal wiped off because referee Travis Smith ruled that he kicked the puck in.
Former Cottonmouth Kenny Corupe put the IceGators back on top 2-1 at 2:48 of the second. Cal Benazic sent a lob pass into the Columbus zone, and Goneau and Tuzzolino each got a glove on it. Tuzzolino attempted a shot from the low left circle that went wide, but he got his own rebound and slipped it to an unprotected Corupe at the doorstep for Corupe's sixth goal of the season.
Darren Tiemstra and John Morlang scored 36 seconds apart later in the period to put Columbus ahead. Tiemstra stole a clearing attempt at the blueline, walked in on Cloutier from right to left and ripped a shot blocker side at the 12:46 mark to tie the game.
Morlang tallied his sixth goal of the season at the 13:22 mark to give the Cottonmouths their first lead in the home-and-home series.
Rempel had a chance to tie the game with five minutes left in the period with the teams 4-on-4, but Kostur made a glove save on the winger 1-on-1.
Kostur came up huge on Louisiana's sixth power play just 28 seconds into the third period, ranging far from his right to his left to stop a Richardson-from-Benazic 2-on-1. Kostur's luck ran out 15 seconds later, as the IceGators capitalized on the man advantage. Mitchell fired a shot from the center point that Kostur stopped with his pads. In a group of players, Benazic got enough on the puck to pass it to a waiting Richardson between the circles, and the diminutive center had an easy time beating the screened netminder.
Mitchell, Richardson and Goneau had a good 3-on-1 opportunity just more than a minute later, but Kostur stopped Goneau from point blank range.
Bechard put Columbus back on top at the 2:42 mark, as Morlang intercepted a clearing attempt and ripped the shot on net. Bechard was right in front to deflect it through Cloutier's pads for the 4-3 lead.
Shawn Mamane scored his first as an IceGator 1:04 later to tie the game back up at 4-4. Rempel took a pass from McNeil near center ice and headed into the Columbus zone. Rempel sent a pass ahead to Mamane, who had a Cottonmouth draped all over him. The puck deflected off Mamane up and over Koster to knot the score.
Bechard answered back for Columbus on the power play at the 7:33 mark, putting the Cottonmouths back on top 5-4. Bishai held the puck at the top of the right faceoff circle, and just as Kostur skated off for the extra attacker after J. P. Morin tripped up a Columbus player in front, Bishai slid a pass to Bechard along the right goal line. Bechard had a tough angle but knocked it past Cloutier for the 5-4 lead.
McAslin made it 6-4 at the 11:57 mark, parking himself in the slot and slipping a pass from Jerome Marois under Cloutier.
The IceGators finished 2-for-9 on the power play, while Columbus was 3-for-8.
Gator Bites:
Mitchell skated in his 100th pro game.
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