Wildcats Extend Home Winning Streak to 15 with 4-1 Victory
Published on April 7, 2016 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wichita Falls Wildcats News Release
The Cats snapped a three-game losing skid to the Corpus Christi IceRays with a 4-1 victory on Thursday night.
The first period was dominated by the Wildcats, who knew they needed to be better to start games than they had been against Corpus Christi. Adam Goodsir snapped a four-game goalless drought by firing a shot past Dryden McKay from the high slot on a power play 8:44 into the game. The Cats would go into the first intermission outshooting the Rays 16-2.
Given how well Corpus has protected leads against the Wildcats of late, scoring the first goal was essential to establishing the way Wichita Falls wanted to play the game. In the second period, the score was broken wide open.
André Pison found himself on a 2-on-1 rush with Goodsir. The pass was tempting for Pison, but he instead utilized a slick toe-drag move and rifled a shot through the equipment of McKay to double the Cats' lead just three minutes into the second period.
The Wildcats' power play started the season dominant against Corpus Christi, but it was silenced last weekend at the American Bank Center. Thursday night, it was firing on all cylinders. Aleksi Poikola finished off a beautiful three-way passing play after Jonny Lazarus and Nikita Litviak passed circles around the four IceRays, one of whom was without his stick. Just over two minutes later, Nick Rosa rifled a shot through McKay in front of his father Todd, who made the trip to Wichita Falls all the way from Birmingham, Michigan to watch Nick play. Julian Sime kept the Rays off the scoresheet, denying all 16 shots he faced in the first two periods.
The third period was about clamping things down and securing the two points for the Wildcats, which they did flawlessly until the final seven seconds of the game. Mike Bevilacqua fired a hard shot which Sime padded away, but the rebound bounced right to Mason Krueger, who tapped the puck into a gaping net, ending the shutout bid of Sime just moments before the game ended.
Sime earned his 11th victory of the season, denying 21 of 22 shots. McKay was given his 14th regulation defeat, stopping 35 of 39. The Wildcats play the IceRays in the final regulation game of the season on Pack the House Night. All tickets to the game are free.
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