Mallards Drop Fort Wayne 5-2

Published on March 21, 2012 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Quad City Mallards News Release


FORT WAYNE, Ind. (March 21, 2012) - Mickey Lang scored once and added an assist, Brandon Marino provided a pair of assists to reach 89 points on the season and David Brown made 35 saves as the Quad City Mallards kept their playoff hopes alive by defeating the host Fort Wayne Komets 5-2 Wednesday night. With the win, the fifth place Mallards improve to 36-26-2 (74 points) but still trail the Missouri Mavericks in the race for the fourth and final Turner Conference postseason berth with just two games left in the regular season for the Mallards.

The Mallards bounced back with three straight first period goals after Colin Chaulk scored a shorthanded goal off a 2-on-1 rush to give the Komets a 1-0 lead at 11:21 of the first. Lang triggered the Mallard onslaught by tying the game on a breakaway at 14:26. Late in the period, the Mallards would strike twice in 21 seconds to first take the lead and then widen the gap to 3-1. Jared Brown stole puck in the offensive zone and buried the tie-breaking goal from the slot mere moments before Eric Giosa knocked in Lang's feed from point blank range.

With just one minute and 13 seconds left in the second period, the Mallards stretched the gap to 4-1. It was the Mallards who were shorthanded when Obi Aduba snapped the puck past Fort Wayne goaltender Nick Boucher from the slot.

Fort Wayne's Stephon Thorne pounced on a rebound to cut the Mallard advantage to 4-2 at 4:12 of the third period, but John Snowden's empty net goal would finish off Fort Wayne with just 61 seconds left in the game.

With two assists Wednesday evening, Marino (40-49-89) extended his point scoring streak to 13 games (11-11-22)- the third longest such streak in the Central Hockey League this season. He trails only Evansville's Todd Robinson (who entered the IceMen's game against Missouri Wednesday night with 90 points) in the league point-scoring race and is one point away from becoming the first Mallard to reach the 90-point plateau since 2004-05.

The Mallards return to action Friday evening against the IceMen in Evansville. The Mallards next play at home on the final night of the regular season- Saturday evening at 7:05 p.m. - against the Bloomington Blaze. The first 1,000 fans through the doors for Saturday's regular season finale will receive free 2011-12 Mallards player card sets. An auction of game-worn Mallards jerseys will immediately follow Saturday evening's game.

Fans can contact the Mallards at (309) 277-1364 or tickets@myqcmallards.com for more information about tickets for Saturday night's game.

Tickets are also available at the i wireless Center box office, at Ticketmaster outlets, through www.ticketmaster.com or through Ticketmaster charge-by-phone toll free. The box office is open weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and on game days from 10:00 a.m. until the start of the second period. Individual game tickets are available for $13 in the upper level and $18 in the lower level and $25 for the first row along the glass for adults. Tickets for kids 12 and under are available for $5 off adult rates. In addition, tickets are available to military personnel for $2 off the regular adult rate.

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Central Hockey League Stories from March 21, 2012


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