Mallards Game Day

Published on December 21, 2016 under ECHL (ECHL)
Quad City Mallards News Release


QUAD CITY MALLARDS VS. FORT WAYNE KOMETS

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 6:35 CT

IWIRELESS CENTER

QUAD CITY

15-8-2, 32 points

4th place, Central Division

Coach: Terry Ruskowski

FORT WAYNE

15-7-3, 33 points

3rd place, Central Division

Coach: Gary Graham

WATCH: ECHL.TV

LISTEN: ECHL.TV

Last Game

Alex Petan and Michael Parks both scored twice in regulation and Justin Kovacs scored the only goal of the shootout as the Mallards overcame Scott Henegar's hat trick and rallied to defeat the host Kalamazoo Wings 5-4 in a shootout Sunday.

Streak

The Mallards have won their last four games- all on the road- to match their longest winning streak of the season. The Mallards previously won four in a row between October 21 and October 29.

The Undefeated

The Mallards are unbeaten in regulation (4-0-1) in their last five games- their longest regulation unbeaten streak of the season.

Back-to-Back

The Mallards won twice in 24 hours last weekend. The Mallards rolled past the Indy Fuel 6-2 Saturday night before battling back for Sunday's shootout win in Kalamazoo.

Tight

The Mallards this week host the two teams immediately ahead of them in the Central Division standings. The Mallards are just one point behind third-place Fort Wayne. Friday night, the Mallards meet the second-place Tulsa Oilers.

Rescheduled

Tonight's game was originally slated for March 3 before being rescheduled.

Upswing

The Mallards have suffered just one regulation loss in their last seven games (5-1-1) and just two in their last 11 games (8-2-1).

Working Overtime

The Mallards have gone to overtime in four of their last five games. They have won three of those four overtime contests. They have won twice in sudden death and split a pair of shootout decisions during that stretch.

Shootout

With Sunday's win, the Mallards improved to 2-2 in the shootout this season.

Central

Tonight's game is the third of five straight against Central Division opponents for the Mallards. The Mallards have started that stretch 2-0-0 and have gone 8-4-1 against division foes on the season.

Rally

The Mallards have come from behind to win in each of their last four games and have won after surrendering the first goal in each of their last three games. The Mallards Sunday in Kalamazoo twice trailed by two before battling back- and getting a tying goal from Parks with 2:25 left in regulation- en route to their seventh comeback victory of the season.

Home Sweet Home

The Mallards have played just one home game in the last 26 days. Tonight's game is the Mallards' first on home ice since they suffered a 3-2 shootout loss to Kalamazoo on December 7.

On the Road

Sunday's victory in Kalamazoo was the Mallards' fourth straight road game (and fourth consecutive road win), eighth away game in their last nine and sixteenth road contest in their first 25 games. The Mallards boast a better record on the road (11-5-0) than at home (4-3-2).

Scrooges

The Mallards lead the ECHL in goals against per game (2.7). Sunday marked just the fifth time in 25 games this season the Mallards have allowed more than three goals in a game. The Mallards have held foes to two goals or fewer in regulation 13 times.

Red Light District

The Mallards have scored four or more goals in each of their last four games. Their recent offensive exploits have raised the Mallards' season average to 3.1 goals per game and lifted the Flock to sixteenth in the league in goal-scoring.

Streaking

Kevin Gibson is on an eight-game point-scoring streak (1-9-10) and a seven-game assist streak (nine assists). Both streaks are Mallard season bests. They are also the longest such streaks of Gibson's career. The ten points Gibson has recorded over his last eight games match the total he produced in his entire career- 65 games- before embarking upon that hot streak.

On the Plus Side

Gibson has posted a plus/minus rating of +13 over his last eight games to climb into a tie for fourth in the ECHL in plus/minus at +16 on the season

Rook Roll

Nolan LaPorte is on a five-game point-scoring streak (2-4-6). The rookie has piled up 12 points (four goals and eight assists) in his last ten games after collecting just five points (one goal and four assists) in his first 14 games.

Parks and Wreck

Parks has scored four times in his last three games and has collected points in each of his last four games (4-2-6). By scoring twice Sunday, Parks took over the Mallard lead in goals (10). He has totaled ten points- including seven goals- in his last ten games.

Triple Threat

Each member of the reunited line of Petan, Kovacs and Sam Warning piled up four points over the Mallards' two weekend victories. Kovacs and Warning collected one goal and three assists apiece while Petan had three goals and one assist. Warning (24), Kovacs (22) and Petan (19) are the Mallards' top three point scorers.

Between the Pipes

C.J. Motte leads the ECHL in goals against average (2.08) and save percentage (.937) and is tied for sixth in wins (10). Motte has won five of his last six starts. He has not allowed more than three goals in any of his 14 appearances.

Milestones

Mike Monfredo ranks sixth in Mallards history in career games played (297). If he dresses for each of the Mallards' next three games, he will play his three hundredth game for the team on December 28 against Indiana...Chris Francis has scored 99 career goals in 397 career games...Mike Wilson has 198 career regular season assists...Donnie Harris has played 297 career games... Justin Kovacs has played 96 career games.

Special Teams

LaPorte's power play goal 30 seconds into the third period Saturday night in Indianapolis ended the Mallards' 0-for-28 man advantage drought. LaPorte's goal was the Mallards first on the power play since Francis scored on the man advantage at 16:08 of the first period of the Mallards' 4-2 win in Cincinnati on November 23. After getting another power play goal Sunday- from Petan- the Mallards now rank fifteenth in the ECHL (16.3 percent) on the man advantage. The Mallards have, however, allowed third period shorthanded goals in each of their last three games and have surrendered five shorthanded goals on the season. The Mallards went 9-for-9 on the penalty kill over the weekend to climb into sixth in the league in penalty killing (86.4 percent).

Head-to-Head

The Mallards won their last meeting with the Komets 6-2 on November 26 in Fort Wayne after losing each of the first three games of the 12-game season series between the two teams. The Komets Wednesday night return to the iWireless Center for the first time since handing the Mallards a 6-2 season-opening defeat on October 14. All-time, the Mallards have gone 51-52-11 against Fort Wayne...Friday night's game is the second of three this season between the Mallards and Oilers. Each of those three games will be played at the iWireless Center. The Mallards won the season series opener 3-2 on October 29. All-time, the Mallards have gone 16-13-0 against Tulsa overall and 11-6-0 at home.

Ins and Outs

Defenseman Donnie Harris has missed the Mallards' last 11 games after being placed on 21-day injured reserve retroactive to November 20 (upper body injury)

- ## Quad City Mallards ##-

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



ECHL Stories from December 21, 2016


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