Breakers Late Push Falls Short (12/26)

Biloxi MS - The blooming rivalry between Baton Rouge and Biloxi was ready to kick off round 5 of 12 Friday night in Mississippi after the holiday week. In a battle of #6 and #7 in the Continental Division, Ed Coffey’s 30 save night was just enough to outlast the Breakers late 3rd period push en route to a 3-1 Zydeco win.

In period 1 the scoring began quickly at 4:01 when Tyler Larwood’s patience allowed him to maneuver around Borodkin and slide home his 3rd of the season to open the scoring at 1-0. The game was relatively even tempoed through the first half of the frame, but a Brandon Lucchesi minor for tripping opened up the door of opportunity for the visitors. In the dwindling seconds of the man advantage, a cross-ice feed by Ross Bartlett found a wide-open Nick Ketola on the doorstep to tap it home and double the margin at 2-0. Each team had another man advantage chance in the closing moments of the first, but no more goals were clocked. The horn sounded with Baton Rouge carrying their 2-0 margin to the room, leading in shots 8-7.

Period 2 began with a quick minor penalty assessed to Dylan Infantino for hooking. With a chance to push the lead, Baton Rouge couldn’t mount much pressure. The two teams continued to exchange chances while simultaneously finishing their checks. Things finally boiled over after a whistle, with some jousting escalating to the ground game before the linesmen stepped in. There were no marks on the scoresheet that counted in the middle chapter, and the Zydeco took their 2 goal margin to the room once more while leading in shots 24-19. 

Searching for answers, the Breakers were ready for battle heading into period 3. The by in large chunk of period 3 was a continuation of period 2, featuring back and forth action with both Coffey and Borodkin continuing to one-up each other. Each team took a pair of matching penalties in the final frame, but no one had a powerplay opportunity. Finally at 17:22, a funky yet fortunate Biloxi bounce was fed to Xavier Charbonneau who finished with a backhand up high to end Coffey’s shutout bid and make it 2-1. Immediately after, Charlie Pens Jr. took a timeout to talk things over, and see if his group could scratch together an equalizer. With the goalie pulled, Biloxi unleashed a flurry of shots on Ed Coffey who came up with some big time saves to keep the lead intact. At 18:37, Jake Cox buried the empty netter to solidify the Zydeco victory at 3-1. Baton Rouge outshot Biloxi 37-31 in full time. 

The Breakers fall to 5-16-1, while the Zydeco climb into 6th place with a record of 4-11-5. The two teams will meet once again tomorrow night at 7:00 inside the Coast Coliseum for the final time until February 7th.