IceGators 5, Jackson 2

Published on April 4, 2002 under ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release


Konstantin Kalmikov scored twice and added an assist and Marc Magliarditi made 29 saves, as Louisiana opened its 2002 Kelly Cup Playoff run with a 5-2 home victory over Jackson in Game 1 of the Southwest Division Semifinals.

Cory Cyrenne, Russ Hewson and Nathan Rempel also scored for the IceGators, who will host Game 2 Friday at 7:35 p.m. Louisiana has won nine of 10 best-of-five playoff series when a victor in the opening game. Mike Tamburro stopped 30 shots for Jackson, which was coming off its 3-1 Wild Card victory over New Orleans Tuesday night.

Magliarditi was again awesome in net, although the IceGators' shutout streak of 164:04 was snapped on a shorthanded breakaway goal by James Patterson early in the third period.

The teams combined for just six shots in the opening nine minutes of the first period before turning it up a notch. The IceGators killed off a 5-on-3 for 1:12 and broke for two goals in a 38-second span late in the period to take control.

Louisiana's hard-working third line came up with a much-deserved goal at the 15:09 mark, as Rempel made it 1-0. Shawn Skiehar got the puck into the zone and it came to Dominic Forget behind the net. Forget slid a pass to Rempel in the left circle, and the winger fired a shot high on Tamburro. The netminder stopped the shot, but it fell directly under him. An alert Rempel skated in and poked the puck past Tamburro for his first goal since February 8 at Mississippi.

"I've had some talks with Rempel in the last few weeks and I told him that he would play an important role in the playoffs," said Farrish, "and he goes out there and has the first goal. One nice thing about our team all year is that we have such depth, from all three of our forward lines, plus defenseman that can jump up there, and the great goaltending."

The IceGators scored on a power play at 15:47 to go up by two goals. With Chris Bogas already in the penalty box for cross-checking, Tamburro tripped up Murphy in front of the net. Murphy, at the left doorstep, slapped his puck on the ice to call for the puck as Magliarditi skated off for the extra attacker. He proceeded to skate into the slot and Cyrenne fired a shot past the screened Tamburro.

"The fans were great during the entire game, particularly in that 5-on-3," said Farrish. "They played a tremendous role and it was great to have their support behind us from the beginning."

Louisiana tacked on a 4-on-4 goal at 11:07 of the second for a 3-0 lead. Jackson attempted to clear its zone, and the puck came to Chris Valicevic at the left point. Valicevic slid the puck towards the net, and it deflected off Kalmikov, trickling just inside the right post past a sprawled Tamburro.

The IceGators had a rare seven-minute power play spanning the second and third periods when Kory Karlander was given two minutes for high sticking and a match penalty. But it was Jackson that struck first, as Patterson picked off an errant pass at the blue line and skated in alone on Magliarditi, sneaking the puck past the goaltender's pads to cut the lead to 3-1 just 19 seconds into the third period.

The margin was quickly restored to three goals on the power play 2 ½ minutes later, as Kalmikov knocked in a loose puck near the net on assists from Hewson and Murphy. Hewson then scored with 8:08 remaining for a 5-1 lead. Kalmikov fired a shot from the top of the right circle, and Tamburro made the initial save. The puck again dropped on the ice, and Hewson was there to put the puck in an empty net.

Patterson finished the scoring with 14 seconds left.

"I was kind of wondering how we would react to the first game after a few days off," said Farrish, whose troops last played Friday – a 3-0 win in Jackson. "(Jackson) had a game last night, albeit a late one, and had already played under the playoff pressure. I thought we answered the bell quite well."

The IceGators upped their record in the playoffs to 18-0 when allowing two or less goals. Louisiana is now 8-2-1 against Jackson this season.

Louisiana got a boost when All-Star defenseman Kevin Mitchell was returned to the team from AHL Houston. Mitchell joined the IceGators hours before gametime.

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