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Mallards Game Day

October 26, 2016 - ECHL (ECHL)
Quad City Mallards News Release


QUAD CITY MALLARDS VS. MISSOURI MAVERICKS

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 6:35 CT

IWIRELESS CENTER

QUAD CITY

2-2-0, 2 points

tied 5th place, Central Division

Coach: Terry Ruskowski

MISSOURI

1-3-0, 2 points

tied 5th place, Mountain Division

Coach: John-Scott Dickson

WATCH: ECHL.TV

LISTEN: Fox Sports Radio 1230

Last Game

Justin Kovacs scored two goals and added an assist as the Mallards defeated the host Rapid City Rush 4-1 Saturday night.

Sweep

The Mallards rebounded to sweep a pair of games in Rapid City last weekend- a 3-2 win last Friday preceded Saturday's victory- after being swept themselves over the opening weekend of the season by the Fort Wayne Komets.

Rush Job

Last weekend's sweep was the Mallards' second in nine two-game series in Rapid City since they began playing the Rush in the Central Hockey League in 2010-11.

Tough Room

The Mallards are tied for fifth place in the Central Division with the Indy Fuel and Wichita Thunder- who won last night against South Carolina to make it a three-way tie. The Mallard are two points behind the Komets and Kalamazoo Wings- who are tied for third place- four points behind the second-place Toledo Walleye and six points behind the division-leading Tulsa Oilers, who upended the defending champion Allen Americans last night to take over sole possession of the top spot. No club in the division is below .500.

Homecoming

The Mallards tonight return to action at home for the first time since suffering a season-opening 6-2 loss to Fort Wayne on October 14. This evening's game is the first of two this week at the iWireless Center for the Mallards, who will host the unbeaten Oilers Saturday night.

Road Show

The Mallards have improved to 2-1-0 on the road. Their back-to-back wins in Rapid City over the weekend followed a 3-1 loss in their first away tilt October 15 in Fort Wayne.

Foursome

The Mallards set a season high by scoring four goals last Saturday night. All four of those goals came at even strength after the Mallards had scored just two even strength goals in their first three games.

Stingy

The Mallards gave up a total of just three goals over two games last weekend and set a team season low by allowing just a single Rapid City goal last Saturday. After falling to Fort Wayne 6-2 on opening night, the Mallards surrendered just six goals over their next three games combined.

Dynamic Duo

Justin Kovacs (3-3-6) and Sam Warning (2-4-6) are tied for sixth in the ECHL in point-scoring and lead the Mallards in points. Kovacs leads the team in goals and is tied for seventh in the league in that category, while Warning leads the club in assists and is tied for tenth in the league. Kovacs and Warning have both collected points in each of the Mallards' first four games and both piled up three points last Saturday at Rapid City. Kovacs produced the Mallards' first two-goal game of the season while also establishing career single game highs in both goals and points. Warning matched a league season high and set a personal career best by collecting three assists in that contest. Warning has assisted on each of Kovacs' three goals; Kovacs has assisted on both of Warning's goals.

Third Wheel

Alex Petan (1-3-4) has joined with Kovacs and Warning to form the Mallards' most productive line. Last Saturday night, Petan, who has started his first full professional season at a point-per-game clip, scored his first ECHL goal and enjoyed his first career two-point (one goal and one assist) game. Petan, Kovacs and Warning have provided six of the 11 goals the Mallards have scored over their first four games and have combined to record 16 points so far this season.

Firsts

Grant Arnold last Saturday picked up his first career point by assisting on Donnie Harris' first Mallard goal.

Between the Pipes

C.J. Motte last Saturday stopped 26 Rush shots on the way to his first Mallard victory.

Power Play

The Mallards rank second in the ECHL on the power play (28.6 percent) after scoring on four of their first 14 man advantages. The Mallards last Saturday failed to score a power play goal for the first time this season. Last Saturday also saw the Mallards surrender a shorthanded goal- to Rapid City's Lindsay Sparks- for the first time. Four of the Mallards' first five goals this season came on the man advantage.

Penalty Kill

The Mallards have given up three goals on 16 opposition power plays and rank twenty-first (81.3 percent) in the ECHL in penalty killing. The Mallards have successfully completed their last nine penalty kills after allowing three goals on their first seven disadvantages.

Rematch

The Mallards tonight meet the Mavericks for the first time since being swept in four games in the opening round of last spring's Kelly Cup playoffs by the Mavs. The Brabham Cup regular season champion Mavericks closed out the Mallards with a 4-1 victory on April 22 at the iWireless Center.

Head to Head

Tonight's game is the first of ten between the Mallards and Missouri this season. The Mallards last year went 0-4-1 against the Mavericks during the regular season. Regular season and playoffs combined, the Mallards are winless in their last nine games (0-8-1) against Missouri. The Mallards have not defeated Missouri since March 29, 2015, when they claimed a 4-3 shootout victory in Independence. The Mavericks have gone nine regular season games (13 including playoffs) without a regulation loss to the Mallards. The Mallards have gone 2-6-1 (2-10-1 including playoffs) during that run, posting an overtime win at home against the Mavs on March 11, 2015 before taking the shootout decision 18 days later. The Mallards last defeated the Mavericks in 60 minutes on February 28, 2015 when they downed their hosts 4-2 in Independence. The Mavericks made their lone appearance in the Quad Cities during the regular season last year on November 4, 2015 and came away with a 4-3 sudden death victory. All-time, the Mallards have gone 23-28-7 against Missouri and 9-11-5 at home against the Mavericks.

Ins and Outs

Forwards Michael Parks (lower body injury) and Jack Nevins (lower body injury) and forward/defenseman Kyle Follmer (lower body injury) have missed the Mallards' last two games...Forward Brady Brassart missed last Saturday's game (upper body injury).

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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.

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