Dragons Stave Off Breakers’ Comeback (2/28)

BILOXI, MS - Country Night at the Coast Coliseum provided a rowdy and fitting environment for the season series finale between Columbus and Biloxi on Saturday night. In a back and forth physical battle, 3 unanswered goals in the 3rd period helped Columbus stave off a Biloxi comeback. 

It was very obvious early on that tonight would be a physical battle for the entire 60. Every player was flying and finishing hits, with whistles stopping no one from jousting. It appeared Biloxi struck first in the form of a Ross Bartlett re-direction, but upon review the goal was waved off. Not skipping a beat, at 5:43 Trey Fischer fired a bullet past Trevor Babin over the shoulder to open the scoring at 1-0. The assist went to Zach Pamaylaon, one of the newest Breakers and longtime Danbury Hat Trick, suiting up for a new team for the first time in his career. But Columbus would storm back. At 6:06, Alexander Jmaeff slipped a five-hole slapshot by Anton Borodkin to tie the game. Then at 12:52, Cody Wickline took a slick Tyler Barrow feed down the slot and finished through the five-hole of Borodkin once more to make it 2-1. The teams continued to battle on all fronts, with tensions coming to a boil more often than not. At 19:31, Cody Wickline tipped home a butterfly shot from the slot by Alex Storjohann to boost the Dragons lead to 2. Needing a boost, new Breaker Payton Jones leveled Brodie Thornton with a clean hit and then answered the bell with Skate Skalde for his first pro fight. Columbus took a 3-1 lead to the room, outshooting Biloxi 17-10

Period 2 it felt like the energy and physicality had declined, with both teams focused more on the game. There wasn’t much action or shots to speak of through the first half of the frame, but things picked up around the midway point. At 10:32, just as their powerplay had expired, Lucas Piekarczyk was able to light the lamp for his team leading 11th of the season to make it 3-2. Into the final 5 minutes, at 15:44 Josh Colten one-timed a missile from the high slot past Anton Borodkin to restore the lead to 2. Columbus and Biloxi both logged 12 shots on net in the middle frame, with the Dragons taking a 4-2 advantage into the final of 27 regulation periods in the season series. 

Period 3 the chippiness was revived. There were a lot of words being exchanged between the two sides and a surplus of extracurriculars in a close battle. At 4:23, Carter Thornton cashed in off a Columbus turnover in their own zone to pull the Breakers to within 1. Unfortunately, that’s as close as Biloxi would get. At 10:57 Alex Storjohann fired a beautiful snap shot over the blocker or Borodkin to make it 5-3. Then just 56 seconds later, Skate Skalde found the back of the net on a chaotic redirection from in tight. The scoring was capped when Alexander Jmaeff hit a Kucherov-esque move on a breakaway to slide the puck past Borodkin and make it 7-3. The silver lining of the game was Dimi Christou taking down Skate Skalde in his first professional fight, one last eruption for the crowd. Columbus outshot Biloxi 39-31 in full time. 

The River Dragons sweep the 9-game season series vs the Breakers, improving to 28-12-4. They will get set to host the Monroe Moccasins in a pivotal 2-game set out in Columbus next Friday and Saturday. Biloxi falls to 6-35-1, and will stay home to host the Topeka Scarecrows for their final 2 battles this Thursday and Friday at 7:00 at the Coast Coliseum.