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Mallards Game Day

April 22, 2017 - ECHL (ECHL)
Quad City Mallards News Release


MALLARDS GAME DAY

QUAD CITY MALLARDS VS. FORT WAYNE KOMETS

CENTRAL DIVISION SEMIFINALS, GAME FIVE

SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 7:05 CT

IWIRELESS CENTER

FORT WAYNE LEADS SERIES 3-1

Game One: Fort Wayne 4 Quad City 3

Game Two: Fort Wayne 3 Quad City 1

Game Three: Fort Wayne 4 Quad City 3 (OT)

Game Four: Quad City 3 Fort Wayne 2 (OT)

Game Five: Saturday, April 22 @ Quad City, 7:05 p.m.

Game Six: Monday, April 24 @ Fort Wayne, 6:30 p.m.*

Game Seven: Wednesday, April 26 @ Fort Wayne, 6:30 p.m.*

*- if necessary

GAME ONE: FRIDAY, APRIL 14

Gabriel Desjardins- who also had an assist- broke a 3-3 third period tie and the host Komets went on to defeat the Mallards 4-3. The Komets came from behind after the Mallards- propelled by a goal and an assist apiece from Alex Petan and Grant Arnold- twice built two-goal leads.

GAME TWO: SATURDAY, APRIL 15

Mike Cazzola and Mike Embach provided a goal and an assist apiece as the host Komets defeated the Mallards 3-1.

GAME THREE: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19

Kyle Thomas scored his second goal of the game on the power play just 22 seconds into overtime to give the Komets a 4-3 victory over the host Mallards.

GAME FOUR: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21

Sam Warning's goal with 16 seconds left in the first overtime gave the host Mallards a 3-2 win over the Komets.

QUAD CITY

40-28-4, 84 points

3rd place, Central Division

Coach: Phil Axtell

FORT WAYNE

45-19-8, 98 points

2nd place, Central Division

Coach: Gary Graham

WATCH: ECHL.TV

LISTEN: Fox Sports Radio 1230

MALLARDS NOTES

Stayin' Alive

With last night's win the Mallards avoided elimination and forced this evening's fifth game. If the Mallards win again tonight they will send the series to a sixth game Monday in Fort Wayne.

Roller Coaster

The Mallards rebounded to win in overtime last night after the Komets erased a 2-0 Quad City lead earlier in the evening. Mike Wilson gave the Mallards a two-goal cushion at 1:12 of the second period, but Jason Binkley would trigger the Fort Wayne rally at 4:46 of the second. The Komets were on the power play when Jamie Schaafsma scored the tying goal just under five minutes later.

Wake-Up Call

Josh MacDonald scored the first goal of last night's game just 31 seconds after the opening faceoff. MacDonald's strike was the earliest goal the Mallards have scored in a playoff game since returning to the ice following a two-year hiatus in 2009. Last night's opener was the fastest goal the Mallards have scored from the start of a period in the postseason since Jordan Knackstedt scored 15 seconds into the second period of last year's playoff-opening 6-3 loss to the Missouri Mavericks on April 16 in Independence. MacDonald scored earlier last night than the Mallards have in any game- regular season or playoffs- this year. Michael Parks buried the Mallards' earliest regular season goal on January 20 when he scored 35 seconds into what would prove to be a 5-4 Mallard overtime victory over the Mavericks at the iWireless Center.

Sudden Death

The Mallards are now 20-12 all-time in playoff overtime. Last night's win was the Mallards' first postseason sudden death victory since they overcame the Allen Americans 3-2 on April 26, 2014 on home ice in game five of the Central Hockey League semifinals when Mike Stinziani scored at 16:12 of the extra period. The Mallards had fallen each the previous two times they had gone to overtime in the playoffs before last night.

ECHL Extra

The Mallards last night won in overtime in the Kelly Cup playoffs for the first time since entering the ECHL in 2014. The Mallards had endured defeat each of the prior two times they had gone past regulation in the ECHL postseason. Before falling in game three of this series, the Mallards dropped their first ever ECHL playoff sudden death decision to the Rapid City Rush 2-1 on April 22, 2015 in the third game of the Central Division semifinals.

Going the Distance

At 79 minutes and 44 seconds, last night's game was the Mallards' longest since April 26, 2003 when Tom Menicci's goal at 8:57 of the second overtime gave the Mallards a 4-3 win over Komets in Fort Wayne in game two of the United Hockey League Colonial Cup finals.

Back-to-Back

The Mallards have now gone to overtime in back-to-back playoff games for the first time since winning both game four and game five of their 2014 CHL postseason clash with Allen in sudden death. Jim McKenzie gave the Mallards a 2-1 victory at 6:47 of the fourth period on April 25, 2014 before Stinziani provided the heroics the following evening.

Backs to the Wall

Last night marked the first time the Mallards have staved off elimination by winning in overtime since they claimed their second championship on May 14, 1998 by taking game seven of the UHL Colonial Cup finals in sudden death. Ryan Black's goal at 9:08 of overtime gave the Mallards a 3-2 victory over the Flint Generals at what was then the MARK of the Quad Cities.

On the Brink

The Mallards last night won with their season on the line after losing each of their prior three must-win playoff games. After winning the first three games of their round one match-up with the Mallards last year, the Mavericks completed the sweep by defeating the Mallards 4-1 in game four on April 22 in the Quad Cities. Game seven losses ended the Mallards' season in both 2014 and 2015. The Rush edged the Mallards 2-1 in the seventh game of the division semifinals on April 29, 2015 in Rapid City after the Americans downed the Mallards 3-2 in the deciding game of the CHL semifinals on April 30, 2014 in Allen. Last night marked the first time the Mallards stayed alive when defeat would have ended their season since April 16, 2014 when they knocked off Rapid City 3-1 in game seven of the opening round at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

Drought

Their game four win ended the Mallards' nine-game playoff losing streak. Last night's victory was the Mallards' first in the postseason since they shut out the Rush 4-0 on April 25, 2015 in the fifth game of round one. Rapid City would go on to take that series by winning games six and seven before the Mavericks won each of their four first round meetings with the Mallards last year.

Déjà Who?

With last night's win, the Mallards avoided being swept in the opening round of the playoffs for the second year in a row after going down in four games to Missouri in round one last spring. The Mallards last night also dodged what could have been the third four-game loss in a best-of-seven series in team history. The Mallards were first swept by the Flint Generals in the 2000 United Hockey League finals.

Deficit

The Mallards have now rebounded to win the fourth game three of the five times in team history they have lost the first three games of a best-of-seven playoff series. On each of the other two occasions the Mallards won game four- in round one of the 2008 UHL playoffs against the Rockford IceHogs and in the opening round of the 2013 Central Hockey League playoffs against the Fort Worth Brahmas- they then fell in game five.

Tight

Three of the first four games of the series have been decided by one goal. The Mallards suffered one-goal losses in games one and three before winning by one last night. During the regular season, t he Mallards went 22-10-4 in one-goal games and led the ECHL in one-goal wins.

For Openers

The Mallards have now scored first in three of the first four games of the series.

Shooting Gallery

The Mallards outshot the Komets 39-38 last night. The Mallards have outshot Fort Wayne in each of the last two games- they had a 36-35 edge in game three- after being outshot 74-31 over the first two games of the series.

W

The Mallards won last night after dropping their prior six games (regular season and playoffs combined). The Mallards suffered losses in their final three regular season games after clinching a third-place finish in the Central Division on April 1. Last night's win was the Mallards' first since they defeated the Alaska Aces 4-2 on April 1 at the iWireless Center.

Komet Crash

The Mallards overcame Fort Wayne last night after suffering their last five defeats (regular season and playoffs combined) at the hands of the Komets, who swept a season-closing home-and-home from the Mallards April 7 and April 8.

You Again

Including the final two games of the regular season, tonight's game is the seventh in a row between the Mallards and Komets. The Mallards and Komets this evening also meet for the seventeenth time overall between the regular season and postseason.

Warning Sign

Last night's game winner was Warning's first career playoff overtime goal. Warning has scored in each of the last two games. Warning and Alex Petan are tied for the team lead in playoff goals (2).

Mac Attack

By scoring his first playoff goal and adding an assist, MacDonald last night took over the team lead in postseason points (6). MacDonald has registered two points in each of the last two games and in three of the first four games of the series.

Streak

Petan, who picked up an assist last night, is the only Mallard who has recorded points (2-3-5) in each of the first four games of the series. Petan has thrived in the playoffs after missing the Mallards' final three regular season games due to a lower body injury. Petan has collected nine points (three goals and six assists) in the last seven games in which he has played (regular season and playoffs combined).

Nickel

Brady Brassart has assisted on five of the six goals the Mallards have scored over the last two games, including last night's overtime game winner. Brassart had two assists last night after assisting on all three Mallard goals in game three.

Firsts

Wilson last night scored his first career ECHL playoff goal. Andrew Panzarella notched his first career postseason point by assisting on MacDonald's goal last night.

Rook

Chris Leibinger assisted on Warning's overtime goal last night and now has two points- a pair of assists- in his first four career playoff games after playing a grand total of five regular season games- during which he went without a point- for the Mallards last month following the completion of his college career at Michigan Tech.

Between the Pipes

C.J. Motte last night earned his first career playoff victory by stopping 36 Fort Wayne shots. Motte has started each of the first four games of the series and has faced at least 35 shots in each of those four contests. He has turned in a .912 save percentage and a 3.03 goals against average in the postseason.

Komet Clashes

This series is the fourth all-time playoff meeting between the Mallards and Komets and the first in 14 years. The two clubs last met in the postseason when the Komets defeated the Mallards four games to one in the 2003 UHL Colonial Cup finals. The Mallards took back-to-back UHL semifinal series from Fort Wayne in 2000 and 2001. The Mallards swept the Komets in three games in 2001 after winning the first ever postseason match-up between the clubs four games to one the prior year.

Playoff Habit

The Mallards have qualified for the playoffs for the third time in as many seasons since entering the ECHL, for the fifth year in a row including their final two CHL campaigns and for the sixth time in the last seven years.

ECHL

The Mallards are in pursuit of their first ECHL playoff series victory after enduring opening round elimination the last two years at the hands of first Rapid City and then Missouri.

Victory

The Mallards' last playoff series victory was their seven game defeat of Rapid City in round one of the 2014 CHL postseason.

History

The Mallards have lost 11 of their last 12 playoff series. Their opening round conquest of the Rush in 2014 is the Mallards' only postseason series win since defeating the Muskegon Fury in six games in the 2003 UHL semifinals.

On the Road Again

This match-up is the tenth straight playoff series in which the Mallards' foes have enjoyed home-ice advantage. The Mallards last had home-ice advantage in the best-of-five opening round of the 2003-04 UHL postseason- a series in which they were swept by Muskegon.

40

The Mallards during the regular season won 40 games for the first time since they went 41-27-8 in the UHL in 2005-06.

84

The Mallards during the regular season totaled 84 points, the most since they had 85 in the UHL in 2006-07.

12

The Mallards finished the regular season 12 games over .500, the most since they finished 14 games over break-even in 2005-06.

Axtell

Last night's win was Mallard boss Phil Axtell's first playoff victory as a head coach. The Mallards went 21-12-2 in 35 regular season games after Axtell took over behind the bench on January 20.

Home and Away

The Mallards during the regular season won 20 games at home (20-12-4) and on the road (20-16-0).

Red Light District

The Mallards finished the regular season eleventh in the ECHL in goals against (220, 3.1 per game) and sixteenth in goals scored (232, 3.2 per game).

Parks and Wreck

Parks' 29 regular season goals were the most by a Mallard since Mickey Lang scored 41 times in 2012-13 in the CHL. Parks finished third among ECHL rookies in goals and fifth in points (56).

Deadlock

Justin Kovacs and Chris Francis finished the regular season tied for the team lead in points (60) after Kovacs had 13 points (six goals and seven assists) in his final nine regular season games and 24 points (eight goals and 16 assists) in his final 16 games and Francis notched 15 points (six goals and nine assists) in his last 14 regular season games.

On the Plus Side

Kevin Gibson finished the regular season tied for fourth in the ECHL in plus/minus rating (plus-32).

20/20

Motte and Adam Vay both finished the regular season with 20 goaltending wins. Motte finished tied for third in the ECHL in save percentage (.917) and tied for eighth in goals against average (2.68). Vay was tied for sixth in shutouts (3).

Special Teams

The Komets have scored power play goals in each game of this series and boast the best playoff power play success rate in the ECHL after going 4-for-12 (33.3 percent) over the first four games of the postseason. The Komets went 1-for-3 last night, while the Mallards went 0-for-5. The Mallards have now gone 1-for-14 (7.1 percent) on the man advantage in the series and have gone 0-for-11 since Jack Nevins scored their lone playoff power play goal late in the first period of game two. The Mallards finished the regular season eighth in the ECHL in penalty killing (83.5 percent) and twenty-sixth on the man advantage (12.4 percent).

Head-to-Head

The Mallards went 4-8-0 against Fort Wayne during the regular season: 2-4-0 at home and 2-4-0 on the road. All-time, the Mallards have gone 54-57-11 against Fort Wayne during the regular season.

Ins and Outs

Forward Adam Gilmour, who missed the first three games of the playoffs after also missing the Mallards' final three regular season games, finished the regular season on 21-day injured reserve retroactive to April 2 (upper body injury).



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