‘Cats Burn Breakers (4/3)

BILOXI, MS - Back for their final home weekend, the Breakers looked to play the role of spoiler one last time as they hosted the Blue Ridge Bobcats for a pair. Fueled by 6 different goal scorers and a 29 save night for Max Macchioni, the Bobcats cruised to a 7-2 victory. 

Neither team did too much on the offensive side out of the gate. Into the flow of the game, at 6:27 a costly turnover by Biloxi behind their own goal resulted in an easy bumper pass for Danny Martin to pound home his 25th of the season to open the scoring at 1-0. The Breakers didn’t record their first shot until over 8 minutes into regulation. Into the back half of the frame, both teams exchanged some chances, but both Rahul Sharma and Max Macchinoni made some brilliant saves. At 16:27, Carson Gallagher finished an odd man rush for his 8th of the year to double the margin at 2-0. The first period didn’t feature any penalty time, with Blue Ridge leading in shots 13-8. 

The offense started quick to begin period 2, with Robin Eriksson beating a scrambling Rahul Sharma to make it 3-0 just 66 seconds in. Blue Ridge dominated possession and zone time throughout period 2. They were rewarded again at 8:39 with Nick Stuckless grabbing his 26th of the season on a shot from the bumper to make it 4-0. Across the midway point, Biloxi struggled to find an answer on the scoreboard. Inside the final 7 minutes, Robin Eriksson was sent off for interference. At 14:18, Ross Bartlett unloaded a bullet off a Matt Gellerman feed to get Biloxi on the board at 4-1 with a powerplay goal. Blue Ridge was able to find an answer with Demid Podrezov stuffing home a back post pass to restore the lead to 4. Through 40 minutes, the Bobcats led 5-1, outshooting the Breakers 35-17. 

Well if you thought the offense was fast in period 2, period 3 topped it. Just 13 seconds rolled off the clock before Nikita Kozyrev made a nifty backhand finish between the legs of Rahul Sharma to make it 6-1. The teams remained dormant until the midway point. At 10:40 and back on the powerplay, a beautiful backdoor feed by Trey Fischer was shoveled home by Ross Bartlett to get Biloxi back to within 4 at 6-2. However, that’s as close as they’d come. The final punch came at 16:17 with Nick Stuckless shelving home his 2nd of the night on the doorstep to cement the scoring at 7-2. The Bobcats outshot the Breakers 51-32 in full time. 

The Bobcats continue on with their franchise record 8th win in a row, improving to 30-20-3. The Breakers fall for the 5th time this season to the Bobcats, declining to 8-42-2. The two teams will meet one final time tomorrow at 7:00 in the final Biloxi home game this season.