Big First, Kozyrev Hat-Trick, Buries Biloxi

WYTHEVILLE, VA - The Breakers hit the road to kick off a 5 game road trip with one of their furthest opponents of the season in the Blue Ridge Bobcats on Friday the 13th. Fueled by 6 first period goals and a hat-trick from Nikita Kozyrev, Blue Ridge was able to defeat Biloxi 8-4 and inch one-game closer to a playoff spot in the Empire division. 

Period 1 was one of utter domination from the home team. At 3:57, Michael Mercurio opened the scoring with his 11th of the season to put Blue Ridge ahead. Once the scoring started it felt like it never stopped. After the Breakers drew a powerplay with a chance to tie the game, Nicholas McHugh potted a shorthanded tally off a turnover to make it 2-0 at 6:21. 36 seconds later, Nicholas Stuckless found his own shorthanded mark to make it 3-0 not even 7 minutes in. Anton Borodkin was lifted for Rahul Sharma after surrendering 3 goals on the opening 12 shots. Unfortunately, the goaltending change would not do much different. At 12:50, a fresh out of the box Timothy St-Pierre one-timed home his first goal in a month to make it 4-0. Inside the final 5 minutes, Blue Ridge headed to their first powerplay and Nikita Kozyrev tucked home a 5th mark all-alone on the doorstep for his 13th of the season. 72 seconds later, the captain Daniel Martin scored from in between the circles to close out the first period scoring with a 6-0 Bobcats lead. The Bobcats had a 7th goal waved off as well thanks to video review. Through 20 minutes, the ‘Cats carried a 6-0 lead to the room, outshooting Biloxi 22-12. 

Needing to bounce back, the Breakers returned to the ice for period 2 looking to chip away and make the game manageable ahead of the final frame. After the Bobcats exploded offensively in period 1, Rahul Sharma settled in for Biloxi and stopped all 22 shots he faced in the middle chapter. At 16:15, a funky own goal off a mishandle by Denis Radchenko cracked rookie goaltender Maximus Macchioni in his pro debut for the first time to make it 6-1. Al Rotiroti was the last Breaker to touch the puck, and as a result he recorded as odd of a first career pro goal as one could have. 77 seconds later and on the power play, Hugo Koch banked a goal in off a defender through traffic for his 6th of the season while celebrating his 23rd birthday to make it 6-2. Through 40 minutes, Blue Ridge carried a 4 goal advantage to the room, outshooting Biloxi 44-23. 

After two completely different frames to begin the contest, no one could gather what would be in store for period 3 on Friday the 13th. Blue Ridge shifted the momentum back in their favor at 5:22 with Nikita Kozyrev potting his 2nd of the night to restore the lead to 5. The two teams exchanged chances until the 9:24 mark when Chiwetin Blacksmith fired a butterfly shot off the post and in to get the deficit back down to 4. 25 seconds later, Blacksmith struck again with a nifty redirection off a shot by Zachary Pamaylaon to get the Breakers to within 3. However, that’s as close as they’d come. At 15:14, Nikita Kozyrev completed his hat trick with a shelf shot on the doorstep to cement the scoring at 8-4. Blue Ridge outshot Biloxi 58-33 in full time. Maximus Macchioni was credited with his first pro win in his first pro start stopping 29/33 in the win. 

The Breakers fall to 7-37-1 as the Bobcats improve to 24-20-3. The two teams will meet tomorrow night once again at 6:30 CST inside Hitachi Energy Arena.