Mavericks Come Back For Victory Over Denver, 7-5

The Missouri Mavericks battled back from 2-0 and 4-3 deficits to defeat the Denver Cutthroats, 7-5, Monday afternoon at Denver Coliseum.  Mavericks’ forward Colt King had two power play goals and an assist, and Trevor Kell led all scorers with a goal and three assists.  Missouri finished 2-for-2 on the power play and killed all four of the Cutthroats’ chances.  The Mavericks (26-19-4) are now tied with the Cutthroats for fourth place in the CHL.
“That was a wild west shootout here in Denver,” said Mavericks’ Head Coach Scott Hillman.  “Our special teams were the difference in the game and Colt King is on fire for us right now.”
After giving up two goals in the opening 3:46, Missouri rebounded and tied the game before the end of the first period.  First, Kell banged home the puck from the doorstep at the 4:24 mark, and then King scored on the power play to tie the game at 2-2.
The Mavericks earned their first lead of the game when John-Scott Dickson scored at the 5:56 mark of the second period, but the seesaw battle continued and the Cutthroats score the next two goals to regain the lead.  Mikael Bedard scored his second goal of the game and Chris Greene gave Denver a 4-3 lead with three minutes to go in the second period.  Missouri answered before the intermission when Sebastien Thinel redirected the puck past Denver goaltender Kieran Millan, and the teams were tied, 4-4, through two periods.
Kenton Miller gave the Mavericks the lead for good at the 5:27 mark of the third period when he took a cross-ice feed from Thinel and snapped the puck into the Denver net.  King made it 6-4 on his second power play goal of the game at 8:45 of the third.  The Cutthroats pulled their goaltender and scored with the extra attacker to make it a 6-5 game with 56 seconds to go, but they couldn’t score the equalizer.  Mavs’ defenseman Dave Pszenyczny celebrated his birthday and scored a goal from nearly 200 feet away into the empty net when he banged the puck off the glass in the Mavericks’ end and it went the length of the ice into Denver’s net.
Mavs’ goaltender Mathieu Corbeil finished with 28 saves on 33 shots in the win and his counterpart Millan had 23 saves on 29 shots in the loss.
The Mavericks scored 18 goals in three games in Denver this season and finished 2-0-1 at Denver Coliseum.
Missouri stays on the road for a game in Fort Worth on Friday, Feb. 22 before they host the Wichita Thunder on Saturday, Feb. 23 at Independence Events Center.