Mavericks take on the Toledo Walleye for the back end of their series. Mason McDonald gets the night off and Nick Schneider will get a chance in net for the Mavericks for the first time since January 19th. He was sent to Stockton to cover Tyler Parsons (illness) but has since returned.
First period was played quite sloppy by the Mavericks but just good enough to contain Toledo to a certain extent. They get 2 power play opportunities but do not get a lot of quality zone time out of them. The Walleye get on the board first when a shot gets lost in Schneider's blocker and falls out in the net. Bad luck for the Mavericks but the 2nd period needs a little bit more drive behind it to prevent this game from quickly slipping away. Shots end 8-7 for the Mavs after 20 minutes of play.
The 2nd period was abosolutely unbelievable. 6 goals scored. 3 within 1:04 of each other then another 3 later in the period within 1:01 of each other. Mavs scored, Walleye scored, then Mavs scored again. On both occasions. Rocco Carzo and Corey Durocher put up 1 goal and Riley Sweeney nets the other 2 goals. Shots finish 21-18 for the Mavs as they go into the 3rd with a 4-3 lead.
The Mavs start off the 3rd with just over a minute to go in their power play. Toledo shuts them down and they do not get another shot in before it expires. Quite a few strings of penalties are dealt in the third including a 5 on 3 disadvantage for the Mavs. Toledo fires multiple slap shots at Schneider but none get through. Players are blocking shots and while a lot of the shots are going wide, Schneider did his job on the tough ones. Toledo uses the TV timeout to talk strategy and they pull their goalie with 1:50 to go in the period. Greg Betzold clears the puck from their zone and it finds its way to the net. This holds the Mavericks for a 5-3 victory. Shots end 30-28 for the Mavs.
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