Green Blanks Biloxi (12/27)

Biloxi, MS - After Baton Rouge leapfrogged Biloxi into 6th place last night, the Breakers hit the ice Saturday night in a must win scenario. However, Ross Bartlett’s goal 89 seconds in combined with a 35 save shutout for Connor Green proved to be all Baton Rouge needed to close out a weekend sweep on the road. 

In pregame warmups there was a lot of jawwing between the two sides, with heavyweights AJ Schlepp and Matthew Bazarin needing to be separated by both linesmen. The puck was dropped and the Zydeco came out hot. It took just 89 seconds for Ross Bartlett to pot a one-timer on the glove side of Borodkin to put the visitors up 1-0. Then it became another back and forth battle between the netminders in Borodkin and Green, with some impressive saves being made to keep it 1-0. Into the 14th minute, former Breaker now Zydeco Blake Keller got locked up in the corner with Brandon Lucchesi. The two former teammates shed the mitts but couldn’t get much separation, and the bout ended quickly with matching minors for roughing. Keller was met with a choir of boos as he saluted his former fanbase on the way to the box. With the energy up, the Breakers mounted some pressure, but couldn’t find the equalizer. Biloxi led in shots 16-11 despite being down 1-0 on the scoreboard. 

Period 2 felt like a carbon copy of the Friday affair, with plenty of scoring opportunities but no tallies. The Breakers earned the first powerplay opportunity after Tyler Larwood was assessed the trip, but still Connor Green continued to stand on his head. Around the midway point the Zydeco had back to back shifts where they thought they had scored, with a celebration and all, but Anton Borodkin’s magic continued to shine. Blake Keller continued to stir the pot, getting tangled up with Trey Fischer inside the 5 minute mark, but the game had yet to see a fight despite all the extracurricular jousting. A devastating delay of game penalty was taken by Rich Durina with just 13 seconds remaining on the clock, teeing up a powerplay for the Breakers to kick off period 3. Baton Rouge carried their 1-0 lead to the room now leading 28-27 in shots.

Period 3 was a bit of a sloppy one. Beginning the period with a 5 on 4 advantage, the Hockey Gods gave Biloxi a gift when Kim Miettinen was assessed a hold, opening the door for a lengthy 5 on 3 with a chance to tie the game. The Breakers had a few shots, but nothing of quality as even strength was restored. Around the midway point, right off the faceoff Nick Ketola fired a shot through traffic from the top of the key that beat Borodkin clean to make it 2-0. Chasing 2, Biloxi had no answers the rest of the way. The cherry on top was Blake Keller potting an empty-netter in his former barn to bury the Breakers at 3-0, his first point as a Zydeco. Connor Green earned his first professional shutout as well, stopping all 35 shots he faced in a second star effort. 

The Breakers lose their 6th straight and drop to 5-17-1, good for 7th in the Continental division. The Zydeco improve to 5-11-5 with the weekend sweep, and hold a 4 point buffer over Biloxi for 6th place in the Continental. Both teams will play next on New Years Eve, with Biloxi traveling to Monroe for the final time and Baton Rouge hosting Topeka.