Mavericks Lose First Game in Regulation, 3-2, to Arizona

The Missouri Mavericks were defeated in regulation for the first time this season in a 3-2 loss to the Arizona Sundogs Friday night at Tim’s Toyota Center.  The Mavericks are now 1-1-1 on the young season and will have the chance at redemption Saturday night when they battle the Sundogs again at 9:05 p.m. Central.  Kellan Tochkin and Derek Leblanc scored the goals for the Mavericks, but Sundogs’ goaltender David Brown made 38 saves on 40 shots to preserve the win for Arizona.
“Tough loss,” said Mavericks’ Head Coach Scott Hillman.  “The second period was our best period and we lost the period 2-0.  We had 33 opportunities on net in that period.  Their point men got shots through and a lot of our shots from point didn’t, and Arizona had solid game in net.  Again, we have things to work on, but we have the chance to bounce back right away tomorrow night.”
For the third straight game the Mavericks gave up the first goal of the game.  This time it was Sundogs’ forward Chad Nehring on the power play after Mavericks’ defenseman Matt McCready was whistled for slashing.  The goal came just 2:40 into regulation and Kyle Chipchura and Mario Larocque earned the assists on the play.  Missouri answered and tied the game at 1-1 on Kellan Tochkin’s third goal of the season.  Tochkin beat Brown at the 17:25 mark and the teams were tied through one period of play.
The Sundogs scored the only two goals in the second period and took a 3-1 lead into the third period.  Mikael Bedard scored at the 2:03 mark, and Nehring added his second goal of the night when he beat Mavericks’ goaltender Mathieu Corbeil to give the home team a two-goal lead through the first 40 minutes.  The scoreless period for the Mavericks marked only the second time in the team’s first eight periods of the season in which they didn’t score a goal.
As they have in each of their first two games, the Mavericks battled back and made it a game when Leblanc scored on the power play at the 6:31 mark of the third period.  Missouri was unable to comeback from the two-goal deficit and the Sundogs hung on for the 3-2 victory.
The Mavericks first home game is set for Saturday, November 3 at Independence Events Center where parking is always free.  Tickets for all 33 regular season games on are sale now via Ticketmaster.  For more information on the Missouri Mavericks visit www.MissouriMavericks.com.