Mavs win 4-3
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. – The Missouri Mavericks, facing elimination from the Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup playoffs, defeated the Colorado Eagles, 4-3, in Game 3 of their Turner Conference Semifinals series. The Mavs went 2-for-3 on the power play and held Colorado 0-3 on their own man-advantage chances to force a fourth game in the best-of-five series.
Missouri jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of power-play goals in the first 12:19 of the opening period, finally getting to a Colorado penalty-kill that had been nearly impossible to beat in the playoffs. The Eagles had stopped 11 of 12 Mavericks power plays in the first two games of the series and had allowed just two power-play goals in the first six games of the playoffs.
Ryan Jardine struck first at 6:03 by putting home a rebound from the doorstep, and just over six minutes later, Simon Watson tallied from below the left circle to make it 2-0. The Eagles trimmed Missouri’s lead in half just under four minutes later when Daymen Rycroft entered the offensive zone down the left wing and found Scott May between the circles for a shot that beat Robby Nolan.
May tied the game at 2 with his second goal of the night, just 26 seconds into the second stanza — setting a new franchise playoff record for the fastest goal in a period (breaking Riley Nelson’s 42-second score to start Game 2 last Saturday).
The Eagles then took the lead at 3:32 of the middle frame when Adam Hogg picked up the puck along the left mid-boards in his own end, skated up ice down the left wing and beat Nolan with a blast from atop the left circle.
But just over three minutes later, Jardine put the Mavs back on top with his second goal of the night when he beat Andrew Penner with a backhander from the left side of the crease. And just over a minute later, Watson found Nick Sirota for a goal from the left circle after a turnover in Colorado’s zone, making it 4-3 for the home team.
The Eagles out-shot the Mavericks 13-8 in the third period, but neither team was able to score, forcing a Game 4 on Thursday night. If Missouri wins that game, a deciding Game 5 would be played at the Budweiser Events Center on Saturday.