Kingfish win second straight

December 1, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Baton Rouge Kingfish News Release


The Baton Rouge Kingfish won their second straight as they came from behind in as many nights scoring two third period goals to down the Arkansas RiverBlades in a shootout, 4-3.

Arkansas stormed out to an early 3-0 lead looking to avenge the five third period goals they gave up the night before in the Kingfish's 6-4 win in Little Rock.

Mike Sandbeck beat goaltender Brian Leitza on the game's first shot as he put the puck between Leitza's pad and the near post just 1:12 into the game. Dean Stock and Damon Whitten added the assists.

Arkansas increased its lead to two on a 5-on-3 power play as Matt Pagnutti took a pass from Eric Long and pushed the puck past Leitza at the 9:36 mark. Terry Marchant also added an assist on the power play goal.

Pagnutti picked up his second of the game just midway though the first period giving the RiverBlades a 3-0 lead. Buddy Smith and Long added the assists on Arkansas' second power play goal of the evening.

The Kingfish got rolling in the second period as Bryan Richardson flipped a loose puck into an empty net at the 15:57 mark as Jimi St. John got caught out of position behind the net. Steve Cheredaryk and Marquis Mathieu added the assists on the power play goal.

In the third period, Joe Guenther cut the Arkansas lead to one on the power play. Mathieu and Trevor Demmans set up Guenther at the 6:29 mark of the third.

The Kingfish continued to roll as it too just 28 seconds later to even the score. Glen Crawford took a pass from Guenther in the faceoff circle and beat St. John to tie the game at three.

The 4-on-4 overtime session did not produce a winner as the Kingfish used Guenther's shootout goal in the third round to pick up the victory.

The Kingfish are 3-1-0 in their last four outings while Brian Leitza improves to 2-1-0 on the season as he made 28 saves for the win.

The Kingfish are back in action on Thursday when they travel to Pensacola to take on the Ice Pilots. Catch all the action on Baton Rouge's Best R & B, 104.5 WZRB beginning with the Kingfish pregame show at 6:50 p.m.



ECHL Stories from December 1, 2002


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