Mavericks Battle Back to Beat Blaze, 4-2

The Missouri Mavericks (33-24-6) came back for a 4-2 win over the Bloomington Blaze Tuesday night at US Cellular Coliseum.  The Mavericks ended a four-game road losing streak on Simon Watson’s debut behind the bench as Mavs’ Head Coach Scott Hillman was serving his one-game suspension.  Kenton Miller scored twice for the Mavericks including the game-winning goal and the Mavericks scored the game’s final three goals, all in the third period, to come back for the victory.  Goaltender Mathieu Corbeil stopped 27 of 29 shots in the win for the Mavericks and his counterpart Ross MacKinnon was equally as impressive making 42 saves on 45 shots for the Blaze.

After a scoreless first period, the Blaze took a 2-1 lead in the second period.  Jon Booras opened the scoring just 34 seconds into the middle frame on assists from Brett Lutes and Nicklas Lindberg.  Missouri answered on Miller’s first goal of the game when his wrist shot from just above the slot beat MacKinnon stick side.  At 13:12 Bloomington took the lead when David Gilbert took advantage of a turnover and beat Corbeil who was out of position after the turnover.  Bloomington held the lead going into the third period, but it was all Mavericks in the final frame.

Kellan Tochkin tied the game at two when he jammed home a rebound just 59 seconds into the third.  Sebastien Thinel and Miller earned assists on the play, and the helper from Thinel marked his league-leading 90th point of the season.  Miller grabbed the game winner late in the period when he redirected a pass from John-Scott Dickson and beat MacKinnon five-hole.  Missouri added an empty net goal at 18:40 to make it 4-2 and end their four-game drought on the road.  

The Mavericks scored the final three goals of the game and finished the season series against the Blaze with an 8-2-0 record.  Neither team was able to convert on the power play both going 0-for-2.  Missouri outshot the Blaze 46-29.

Missouri has just one more regular season home game remaining in the 2012-13 season.  Missouri will host Tulsa on Friday, March 22 at Independence Events Center.  Mavericks’ playoff tickets will go on sale to the general public this Thursday, March 21 at 10 a.m. through all Ticketmaster outlets and at the Silverstein Eye Centers Box Office.  Playoff schedules are to be determined and only playoff games A, B and C of the first round will go on sale.