After taking the game to the Roadrunners in Friday night’s 5 – 1 win, the Lone Star Brahmas came into game two looking to continue their momentum. The first period saw a lot of physical and end to end play, but ended with neither team able to find the back of the net.
The second period was a mirror image of the first until the 13:38 mark when Liam Stirtzinger stepped off the bench and made a play at the near point to keep the puck on side. Hogan Davidson picked it up and carried it to the left wing dot then sent it back to Nick Ford who found Stirtzinger in the far circle for a laser beam past Drew Vogler glove side.
The Roadrunners got the goal back with just 18.8 seconds left in the period off a draw to Jake Kupsky’s right. The puck bounced around and found its way to Tyler Irvine off the right post. Kupsky got most of Irvine’s point blank shot, but it bounced behind him and in before he could sweep it aside. Carlos Fornaris and Mike Gornall got the assists.
Topeka made a strong push for the lead at 5:45 of the third when they went into the zone on a 2 on 1 rush. Caleb Thompson laid out to take away the passing lane leaving Kupsky to handle the shooter and handle him he did. Kupsky stone Jasen Fernsler with the glove hand keeping the game deadlocked at one. The save would prove to be huge as the two teams skated even until the 15:09 mark when Ford knocked down a Topeka stretch pass in front of the penalty box and hit Oskar Andren in stride down the far wall. Andren did the rest as he pulled it to the top of the circle and fired it short side on Vogler giving the Brahmas a one goal lead. Clinging to the one goal lead the Brahmas went on the penalty kill at 16:17. The Roadrunners had pressure and twice Bud Madejgave up the body to block shots deep in the zone to help kill off the man advantage. Topeka pulled Vogler with 1:39 to go and the Brahmas took just 39 seconds to get the insurance goal. Ludvig Larson started the play when he pulled the puck out a scramble in front of Kupsky and gave it to Pat Egan who hit Sebastian Vidmar with a touch pass in front of the bench. Vidmar fought past the defender, skated in and put it in the empty net for the 3 – 1 win and sweep of the Roadrunners.
Shots on goal were even at 24 apiece and both teams were 0 – 4 on the power play.
The assist by Larsson gives him a seven game point streak. Vidmar extended his five game point streak and added to his league lead in goals scored. Kupsky picked up his sixth win in seven decisions and has yet to lose in regulation. Lone Star now has a five game win streak overall and a seven game home win streak. They will look to extend both when they welcome the Rio Grande Killer Bees into the NYTEX Sports Centre on November 14th and 15th.
