Ben Halford will get the start for the 2nd night in a row after a solid performance last night. The Mavs get another shot at Allen in hopes to take away 4 points this weekend. Halford sits at a 2.60 goals against average and a .921 save percentage going into tonight's game. McDonald is sitting at a 2.76 goals against average and a .901 save percentage.
The teams show more restraint in the first bit of the first period. No penalty frenzy like last night. The Mavericks get on the board first when Willie Raskob is set up at the point by C.J. Eick and Zach Fischer. Shortly after, the Mavericks get a power play after a cross-checking call but 17 seconds into their man advantage, Greg Betzold takes a tripping penalty and they play out the 4 on 4. The Mavericks finally get a quality power play opportunity an Greg Betzold capitalizes. Cliff Watson and Mike Panowyk pick up assists. A couple power plays come and go for each team but fans show a lot of disappointment in goalie screening on Halford in particular. They think the refs were missing quite a few calls but it looked pretty clean for the most part. The Mavs end the first period up 2-0 and leading 14-8 in shots.
The 2nd period does not offer more goal production but the abundance of penalties that we called last night come back again in this frame. Mavs take 3 including a full 2 minute 5 on 3 disadvantage but are able to kill them off. Zach Fischer appears to be getting into trouble again with a lot of heated exchanges happening between whistles. However, he causes one of the Allen alternate Captains to get a 10-minute misconduct. Score stays 2-0 and Mavericks still lead 22-15 in shots.
The third period starts slipping away from the Mavs after Zach Fischer takes a penalty that the Americans are able to get their first goal on then less than a minute later put up another one. The momentum for the away team continues and a few minutes after their 2nd goal, they put up a 3rd putting them ahead of the Mavericks for the first time in the game. They even start to overpower in shots 26-24 with 8 minutes to go in the 3rd period. But the game is not over yet. Rocco Carzo squeezes one past the Allen goalie and ties up the game. 33 seconds later Cliff Watson gets a goal of his own and the Mavericks regain their lead. Allen tries to pull their goalie to make something happen in the dying minute but take a penalty that really hurts their chances. Mavericks win it 4-3 and get their shot lead back to 32-38
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