NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TX — The Lone Star Brahmas finish up a three-weekend stint on the road with a trip to Wichita Falls to play two games against the Wildcats.
Currently, the Brahmas and Wildcats are first and second in the NAHL South Division respectively. The Brahmas are 17 points up on the Wildcats, but Wichita Falls does have four games in hand.
Lone Star’s significant lead over the rest of the division is partially due to their torrid pace of play over the last month and a half. The Brahmas haven’t lost a game since December 10th and are in the midst of a 12 game winning streak. They were in Topeka last weekend and registered two wins, one a 4-3 overtime decision and the other a comfortable 3-1 regulation victory.
The Wildcats are coming off of a weekend sweep of their own against the Shreveport Mudbugs. Those two wins against the Mudbugs (one in regulation, one in the shootout) put the Wildcats back into second place in the NAHL South. They’ll be looking to build on those wins with success against the Brahmas in their chase for first.
The Brahmas offense has been more than adequate all season, but just one weekend after going 8-for-16 against Wichita Falls on the power play, they didn’t score on the man advantage once against Topeka’s penalty kill (ranked third-worst in the NAHL).
Lone Star’s power play will look to get things back on track in this weekend set and no doubt attempt to replicate their success against Wichita Falls just two weeks ago.
One strength of the Brahmas has been goaltending. They have received very solid goaltending over the last stretch of games, with the tandem of Alec Calvaruso and Max Prawdzik combining for a record of 12-0-0 and posting a save percentage of .933 in their starts. In that span, they’ve allowed an average of under two goals per game — including two shutouts from Calvaruso in eight starts. They’ll look to continue that success this weekend.
Calvaruso is expected to start on Friday night.
Both Friday and Saturday night’s games will have a 7:05 PM puck drop. Catch the games on HockeyTV.com.