Mavericks Win Overtime Thriller, 3-2, in Game One of Conference Finals

The Missouri Mavericks tied the game on a penalty shot with 19 seconds remaining and scored five minutes into overtime to come from behind and beat the Fort Wayne Komets, 3-2, Friday night in game one of the Turner Conference Finals. Ed McGrane scored the Mavericks’ penalty shot and John-Scott Dickson notched the game winner at the 5:20 mark of overtime. Mavericks’ goaltender Charlie Effinger stopped 38 of 40 shots for his fifth straight playoff win. The Mavericks lead the best-of-seven series 1-0, and game two of the Turner Conference Finals is Saturday night at Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne.
“Big win,” said Mavericks’ head coach Scott Hillman. “Our greatest fear of the rust was certainly evident tonight, and we need to be better tomorrow if we want to get the same outcome.”
Fort Wayne outshot the Mavericks 40-27 and 17-3 in the third period and overtime combined. Missouri had just one shot in the third period and it was McGrane’s penalty shot that tied the game with 19 seconds remaining in regulation.
The Mavericks opened the scoring just 1:02 into the game when Andrew Courtney scored his first goal of the post-season on a rebound. Sebastien Thinel earned the lone assist on the play, and the Mavericks held the lead for just under seven minutes. At the 6:59 mark of the period, Tom Mele took a centering feed from Jean-Michel Rizk and beat Effinger to tie the game at one.  The teams remained tied for the final 13 minutes of the opening period and there were no penalties called in the first 20 minutes.
Just as the Mavericks scored an early goal in the first period, the Komets scored only 1:28 into the second period. Mike Vaskivuo scored on pass from Colin Chaulk to give the Komets their first lead of the game.  Chris Auger also assisted on the play and it proved to be the only goal of the second period. The Mavericks earned two power play chances in the second compared to one for the Komets, but neither team was able to light the lamp on their respective power plays. Through two periods, the Mavericks had a 24-23 edge in shots, but were trailing 2-1.
The Komets continued to pressure in the third period, but Effinger was equal to the task on all 13 shots by the Komets. In the final minute, the Mavericks’ pulled Effinger in favor of the extra attacker and earned a faceoff in the Komets zone. Komets’ defenseman Brent Henley was called for intentionally moving the net off its moorings and the Mavericks were awarded penalty shot. McGrane buried the penalty shot with 19 seconds remaining to force overtime.
After back and forth action in the opening minutes of the overtime period, Mavericks’ forward John-Scott Dickson took the puck along the right wing and snapped a shot from a sharp angle that bounced off Komets’ goaltender Nick Boucher and into the back of the net. It marked the Mavericks first playoff overtime victory.
Boucher finished with 24 saves on 27 shots in the loss. Missouri was 0 for 2 on the power play and the Mavericks killed the Komets’ only power play chance.