‘Birds Sweep Breakers

WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Closing out the 3 game season series in Winston-Salem, the Breakers looked to once again play spoiler in a Sunday matinee. After falling behind early, the Breaker offense provided too little too late en route to a 6-3 defeat.

Twin City went to an early powerplay just 38 seconds in with Ross Bartlett being sent off for a trip. After a solid kill, the Breakers searched to find some momentum but couldn’t garner much pressure on Boris Babik. The scoring opened at 5:16 with Jon Buttita firing a wrist shot to the blocker side of Anton Borodkin for his 12th of the year to make it 1-0 Twin City. Into the back half of the frame, Al Rotiroti was assessed a roughing minor, leaving the Breakers shorthanded once again. At 15:09, Connor Craig found Roman Kraemer on the back door for an easy tap in to double the margin on the powerplay at 2-0. Twin City led in shots 14-9 through 20 minutes. 

The Breakers began period 2 with a sense of urgency, collecting 5 of the first 6 shots on net to begin the frame but still struggling to score. At 8:31, Nate Keeley found himself all alone on a cross crease feed by Roman Kraemer and did the easy part, netting his 3rd of the weekend to make it 3-0 Twin City. 2 minutes later, a solid battle win at the blue line by Matt Gellerman resulted in a rip over the shoulder of Babik to put Biloxi on the board at 3-1. 6 minutes later, the ‘Birds would respond, with Nate Keeley stuffing home another on the doorstep to restore the lead to 3 at 4-1. The Thunderbirds led in shots through 40 minutes at 36-18. 

The Thunderbirds came out once again with something to prove to begin period 3. After a slew of early Biloxi penalty minutes, Domic Dumas found the twine on the powerplay at 6:10 to make it 5-1. Still on the powerplay, at 7:26 Roman Kraemer buried his 2nd of the night to open up Twin City’s largest lead at 6-1. Struggling to find offense, the Breakers got going again inside the final 5 minutes. At 15:35 and on their own powerplay, Chiwetin Blacksmith pounded home a cross crease feed from Matt Gellerman to make it 6-2. Moments later another man advantage opportunity presented itself. At 17:27, Ross Bartlett redirected home a Hugo Koch shot to cement the scoring at 6-3. The Thunderbirds outshot the Breakers 54-27 in full time. 

Twin City inches to within 5 points of the final playoff spot in the Continental Division with the weekend sweep improving to 23-26-1. They will host the Athens Rock Lobsters for a pivotal 2 game series next Friday and Saturday. The Breakers fall to 7-41-1, and will return home to host the Baton Rouge Zydeco for a pair next Friday and Saturday.