Twin City Sneaks by Biloxi 4-2 (3/21)

WINSTON_SALEM, NC - After a 3rd period nightmare last night, Biloxi was searching to fine tune their game with a chance for revenge on the road for the middle game of a 3-in-3. In a battle of the goaltenders with 95 total shots on net, Twin City snuck by Biloxi by a final of 4-2 to keep their playoff hopes alive. 

Twin City came out hot with the pressure in the first, logging 16 shots in the opening 10 minutes of play on Anton Borodkin. Once again on their heels, Biloxi needed some opportunities to swing the momentum back in their favor. At 11:26, the top line cashed in. In a chaotic 3-on-2 sequence, Ross Bartlett caught a sliding Boris Babik’s five-hole open and slid the puck through to give Biloxi a 1-0 advantage. You could feel the tempo swing to the visitors, and Twin City had no answers to please the home crowd. Through 20 minutes, Biloxi led 1-0 despite being outshot 24-12.

Twin City once again made some necessary adjustments and came out hot to begin period 2. At 3:17, Jacob Schnapp wristed a shot past Borodkin on the blocker side to tie the game at 1. Near the midway point at 9:08, Jan Salak tucked home his 17th of the season to leapfrog the ‘Birds ahead at 2-1. Inside the final 3 minutes, a scary knee on knee hit by Trey Fischer on Kayson Gallant sparked a skirmish resulting in a slew of penalty minutes and a Twin City powerplay. On their first man advantage of the contest, Nate Keeley finished a rebound off a Zach White shot to deliver the Thunderbirds a 3-1 advantage. Tensions continued to boil, and a physical play with 17 seconds left by Connor Craig in the corner led to another Breaker man advantage. Off the faceoff, the Breakers held the zone until Hugo Koch found Lucas Peikarczyk all alone in front for an easy one-timer to pull Biloxi to within 1 with just 6 seconds left. Jacob Schnapp was also assessed a penalty after the goal for a slash on Koch, making way for the Breakers to open period 3 on the powerplay down a goal. Twin City led on the scoreboard through 40 minutes at 3-2 outshooting Biloxi 40-25.

Separated by a goal with the tension tangible, period 3 was sure to be a tooth and nail battle to the finish line with a massive 3 points on the table for Twin City. There were a combined 30 shots in the last chapter of this one, but Twin City found the one that counted. At 17:01, Roman Kraemer buried a five-hole mark through a frozen Anton Borodkin to plant the dagger and earn Twin City a 4-2 victory. The Thunderbirds also outshot the Breakers 56-39 in full time.

Twin City inches closer to PeeDee in the Continental Division rankings improving to 22-26-1. Biloxi drops their 5th straight and falls to 7-40-1. The two teams will close out their season series on Sunday at 3:05 CST inside the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds.