ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Gwinnett Power Play Too Much In 4-3 Win Over Cincinnati

Published on March 8, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


DULUTH, Georgia - The Gwinnett Gladiators have one of the most feared power play units in the ECHL and on Monday night, they used it collect a 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Cyclones. Gwinnett, which leads the ECHL in power play percentage at 22.7 percent, went three-for-five with the man-advantage to guide the offense past Cincinnati and improve to two games above the.500 mark (28-26-6). Cincinnati unleashed a 39 shot attack at Gladiators goaltender Danny Taylor, but he turned aside 36 of the efforts to take his 17th victory of the season.

The loss by the Cyclones left them three points in front of second place Kalamazoo, but the Wings have three games in hand on Cincinnati to close the gap. Gwinnett, which is trying to secure the final playoff berth in the American Conference- took a step forward by moving into a tie for ninth with Wheeling. Both teams have 62 points. The top eight teams in the American Conference advance to the Kelly Cup playoffs.

The teams exchanged goals in the opening period. Gwinnett drew first blood when Scott Mifsud netted his 16th goal of the season at 2:56 on the power play. Drew Paris and Adam Berti had the assists. The Cyclones evened the scores when Barret Ehgoetz held the puck at the bottom of the right circle and spotted Scott Reynolds at the left goal post. Ehgoetz slid the puck through the slot to Reynolds, who netted his 20th score the year. Chris Morehouse added the other assist. Cincinnati won the shots battle in the opening term, 11-10.

Each team netted a pair of second period goals to make it a three-all tie heading into the third period. Gwinnett grabbed the 2-1 edge at 1:48 when Jamie Fritsch collected his first goal of the season at 1:48 from Matt Francis and Michael Forney. The Cyclones evened things up when Chris Morehouse netted his fifth of the season at 3:53 from Jason Jozsa. Cincinnati grabbed its first lead of the night when rookie Patrik Prokop collected his first professional goal- unassisted- at 12:32. Gwinnett would even things up with a score from Francis, his 14th, at 14:12 on the power play. Tim Miller and Nick St. Pierre had the assists. The shots again favored Cincinnati, 15-11.

With Hans Benson serving a minor penalty for interference, Gwinnett took a 4-3 lead at 7:29 of the third period with their third power play score of the night. Tom Zanoski tipped a shot from Drew Paris that originated from the left point for his 22nd lamplighter of the season. Scott Mifsud added the second assist on the score. It was the third time on the evening that the Gladiators led the game. The Cyclones would play the last 1:14 with six attackers on the ice- but could not get the equalizing goal. The shots favored Cincinnati, 13-8, in the period and 39-29 for the game.

Gwinnett went three-for-five on the power play, while Cincinnati was zero-for-two with the man-advantage. Danny Taylor stopped 36 shots in taking the win, his 17th of the year. Jeremy Smith re-routed 25 shots but took the defeat for Cincinnati.

Cincinnati is 38-21-3, while Gwinnett is 28-26-6. The contest was the fifth game of a six game road trip and the final game of a four contest southern swing. The Cyclones will return to U.S. Bank Arena on Thursday, March 18 for a 7:30pm showdown against the Johnstown Chiefs. The road trip concludes with a trip to Elmira on Saturday (March 13 - www.cycloneshockey.com)

Cincinnati leads the North Division with 79 points. Kalamazoo is second with 76, while Toledo is third at 66 and Wheeling rounds out the division with 62 points. The Cyclones have led the North Division for 62 days this season and for 323 days over the past three-plus seasons. Cincinnati's 'magic number' to clinching a playoff berth is at eight. The ECHL trade deadline looms, as Friday (March 12) is the final day that players may be dealt in the league.

Tickets for the 2009-10 Cincinnati Cyclones season are now on sale. The Cyclones Sales Department can be reached at 513-421-PUCK, extension 3. Selected Friday night games are carried on 1530-AM Homer, while all 72 regular season games can be heard on the club's website at: www.cycloneshockey.com. The next game on ESPN 1530 will come Friday, March 19, when the Cyclones travel to Toledo at 7pm.

Check out the Cincinnati Cyclones Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from March 8, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central