The Kansas City Mavericks face off against the Washington Capitals affiliate, the Allen Americans for an afternoon game at home. Mason McDonald gets the start between the pipes this afternoon making Tyler Parsons the likely candidate for tomorrow’s game. They fall 3-2 after a third period they wish they could have back. Allen scored 3 unanswered goals after the Mavericks put up their first and were able to just get one goal back in the last 2 minutes of the game.
Keep on Shooting
The first star of the night went to Allen’s goalie and with good reason. He stop 39 of the 41 Mavericks shots and does not leave a lot of margin for error at all. Mavericks might need some game tape review to figure out what they need to do to be more successful against him tomorrow.
Questionable Losses
Eric Freschi put up a dirty hit on a Allen player just in front of his bench in the 2nd period. He immediately pays for it and is rushed by a group of Allen skaters and picks his partner to drop the mitts with. He was headed to the box but left the ice after being given a game misconduct for spitting in an Allen players face. There is a chance he will face suspension for that and not appear in tomorrows competition.
Another One Bites the Dust
Top liner, Dan Correale took a few unfortunate blows in tonights game. He was blocking a lot of shots and taking slashes and high sticks that go unnoticed by the refs. What gets him is a blocked shot at the blue line that drops him and he ends up crawling to the bench. His teammates lifted him over the boards and he was looked at by the trainer on the bench before leaving and not returning to the game. Mavericks healthy bodies are scarce and if these two are out tomorrow they could be scrambling for players to fill a lineup card.
McDonald Shares His Thoughts
Mason McDonald overall played a very solid and relaxed game. He only faced 15 shots through the first two periods but said he tries to play the puck more and focus on the shots that you do end up seeing. He also shared some information about the goalie fight he got into against Kalamazoo in the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqCSO48PlfE&feature=youtu.be
Gold Star for Hunter Smith
Hunter Smith fanned on a huge opportunity early in the game but ends up being the one that opens up the score in the dying minute of the first period. He was doing what he does best by screening the goalie with his big body and if he is able to react quicker on some one-timers he could have easily had a multi-point game.
Tomorrow will be a challenge for the Mavericks and with an already disappointing home record they are looking to pick up a win to split this double header. If lineup changes are made, they need to adjust quick and try and get out of the rut they can’t seem to break at home.
They will play Allen again Monday December 11th at 6:05pm MT
