
Mallards Game Day
October 19, 2017 - ECHL (ECHL)
Quad City Mallards News Release
MALLARDS NOTES
Last Game
Josh MacDonald scored the game winning goal in the third period just 23 seconds after teammate Matt Pohlkamp tied the score as the host Mallards rallied past the Oilers 5-4 Saturday night.
Double Down
The Mallards tonight gun for a sweep of their two-game series with Tulsa.
Comeback Kids
The Mallards overcame 1-0, 2-1 and 4-3 Tulsa leads on the way to victory Saturday.
Slow Starts
The Mallards fell behind early in each of their first two outings. They found themselves in a two-goal hole just two minutes and 24 seconds into Friday's season opener after the Toledo Walleye scored twice in 29 seconds en route to a 3-2 win. Tulsa drew first blood only three minutes and 19 seconds into Saturday's contest.
Rapid Fire
By producing decisive third period goals from Pohlkamp and MacDonald 23 seconds apart Saturday, the Mallards came within one second of matching the shortest span between two of their goals all of last year in just the second game of this season.
Tight
The Mallards kicked off the campaign with a pair of one goal games after exactly half of their 72 games were decided by a single goal last season. Only the Missouri Mavericks (37) played more one goal games than the Mallards last year. The Mallards went 22-10-4 in such contests and led the ECHL in one-goal wins.
Home Sweet Home
The Mallards tonight wrap up a season-opening three-game homestand. They will go on to play six of their first seven games at home.
Immediate Impact
Rookie Keegan Kolesar scored his first career goal, added his first two career assists and was named first star of the game Saturday night.
Debut W
Mallards rookie goaltender Ivan Kulbakov also enjoyed a milestone evening Saturday. Kulbakov earned the win in his professional debut by stopping 27 Oiler shots.
Here We Go Again
The Mallards top three returning points scorers- Justin Kovacs (who tied for the team lead with 60 points last season), Sam Warning (54) and MacDonald (52)- were once again key sources of offense over opening weekend. All three recorded points in each of the Mallards' first two games. Warning scored in each of the first two games while Kovacs and MacDonald picked up an assist apiece on Friday and scored a goal each on Saturday.
Warning Sign
Warning scored the Mallards' first goal of the season Friday and followed up by scoring shorthanded Saturday to join Logan Nelson- who did so in the first two games of the 2015-16 campaign- as the second Mallard to score in each of the first two games of an ECHL season.
Back-to-Back
Along with Kovacs, Warning and MacDonald, Tristan King- who scored in his Mallard debut Friday and had an assist Saturday- is one of four Mallards who recorded points in each of the first two games of the season.
Pohl Position
Pohlkamp scored in what was his Mallard debut Saturday. He provided the third period equalizer against Tulsa after sitting out Friday's opener.
Firsts
Brayden Low- who had two assists- and Greg Amlong- who notched one assist- recorded their first points for the Mallards Saturday.
Milestones
Kovacs has 96 career points... King has 93 career goals...Garrett Klotz has 963 career penalty minutes
Special Teams
The Mallards went 0-for-5 on the power play Saturday while Tulsa went 1-for-3. The Mallards have 0-for-8 on the power play and 5-for-6 on the penalty kill over their first two games.
Short
The Mallards both scored and allowed a shorthanded goal Saturday. Warning's shorthanded goal was the third of his career. He has now scored shorthanded once in each of his first three seasons.
All Good Things...
The power play goal scored by Tulsa's Adam Pleskach at 17:12 of the second period Saturday ended a run that- combining the end of last season with the start of this one- had seen the Mallards successfully complete 18 consecutive regular season penalty kills and go the equivalent of better than eight full games (483 minutes and 32 seconds) across parts of two campaigns without allowing a regular season power play goal. Pleskach's strike was the first conceded by the Mallards while shorthanded during a regular season game since March 26, when the Wichita Thunder's Jeremy Beaudry scored at 16:22 of the second period of what proved to be a 2-1 Mallard overtime win.
Head to Head
Saturday's game was the first of six this season between the Mallards and Oilers. The Mallards have won six of the last seven meetings between the two teams over parts of three seasons. Wednesday's game will be the sixth straight Mallards-Oilers match-up to be played in Moline. That run will stretch to seven consecutive head-to-head meetings in the Quad Cities when the Oilers visit the TaxSlayer Center again on November 17. The Mallards will finally return to Tulsa when they play three games in three nights at the BOK Center beginning March 23. Those March match-ups will mark the Mallards' first appearance in Tulsa in better than two years since they defeated the Oilers 4-3 in overtime on February 13, 2016. All-time, the Mallards have gone 18-14-0 against Tulsa overall and 13-7-0 at home
Ins and Outs
The Mallards yesterday acquired defenseman Willie Raskob from the Worcester Railers in exchange for cash considerations
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ECHL Stories from October 19, 2017
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