Mallards Roll Past Bloomington 8-4

Published on February 28, 2010 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Quad City Mallards News Release


MOLINE, Ill. (February 28, 2010) - Brandon Marino- who provided what proved to be the game winning goal- and Justin White both scored twice and both added two assists as the host Quad City Mallards, proud International Hockey League (IHL) affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers, broke loose for their biggest offensive outburst of the season and defeated the Bloomington PrairieThunder 8-4 Sunday evening to pull within seven points of fourth place Bloomington and the final IHL playoff spot.

The Mallards twice erased one goal first period deficits, forged in front for the first time with three second period goals and pulled away with three more in the third period.

The wild second period saw the Mallards rip off three straight to build a 5-2 lead only for the PrairieThunder to respond with two quick goals of its own to trim the gap to one. Quad City's Patrick Levesque scored from the crease at 1:57 of the second to snap a 2-2 tie. At 8:44 Chris Lipsett, playing his eight hundredth career game, marked the occasion by stretching the margin to two with a one timer. Marino pounced on a rebound to score his second, expand the lead to three and chase Bloomington starting goaltender Sebastian Dahm at the 10:10 mark.

The PrairieThunder would bounce back with goals just over a minute apart from Craig MacDonald- his second of the evening, from the left wing circle- and Robin Gomez- from the right wing circle to- make it a 5-4 game and, at 14:59 of the second period, bring about the replacement of Mallard starting netminder Jerad Kaufmann by Kyle Jones.

Undaunted, the Mallards would continue their onslaught in the third period against Bloomington relief netminder Kevin Armstrong. Jason Price's blue line blast gave Quad City some breathing room at 6:09. White reestablished the three goal Mallard lead when his shot deflected off a Bloomington stick and in under Armstrong just over two minutes later and then capped off the win by firing a power play goal home from the doorstep with 67 seconds left on the clock.

As overpowering as the Mallards were at the finish, it was the PrairieThunder that got the early jump on Quad City. Matt McIlvane's shorthanded breakaway goal opened the scoring four and a half minutes into the game. Marino knotted the contest at one by beating Dahm on the short side at 11:04 of the first period, but the deadlock lasted only 24 seconds before MacDonald put Bloomington back on top with a goal from an acute angle. The Mallards once more tied the score when Juris Stals swept in a power play goal from the doorstep at 18:28 of the first and would never trail again.

The Mallards Wednesday night return to action on home ice against the Muskegon Lumberjacks at 7:05 p.m. 12-ounce drafts will be available for just $2 at i wireless Center concession stands during that game.

Tickets for Wednesday night's game and all remaining regular season Mallards home games are available at the i wireless Center box office, Ticketmaster outlets and www.ticketmaster.com or through Ticketmaster charge-by-phone toll free at 1-800-745-3000. The box office is open

Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and on game days from 10:00 a.m. through the end of the second period.

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International Hockey League 2 Stories from February 28, 2010


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