The Kansas City Mavericks face off against the Cincinnati Cyclones for the second night in a row on home ice. Tonight they retired a player that played in KC in 2011 for 4 seasons. #43 Sebastien Thinel. He still holds the all-time scoring record and wore the C for the Mavs for 4 seasons he was here. Thinel was joined with many other former Mavs for history weekend.
The coaches make the decision to put Ben Halford in net for the second night in a row. Schneider will back up once again. Very scarcely attended tonight with the Kansas City Chiefs playing this afternoon. Probably the least amount of people I've seen at a Mavericks game since I have been covering them. The Mavericks organization also invested in some arena improvements including better lighting and two new larger video boards.
Not a whole lot of action through the first period of play. A little bit of an awkward period with players slipping and sliding all over the place. Mavs passes were not looking too crisp and players seemed to be losing the puck behind them. However, they still ended up getting the most zone pressure and outshot the Cyclones 9-3. It seems odd that Halford is starting over Schneider tonight but he is owning his crease. Standing very confidently against this strong team. Doesn't make you think this guy doesn't earn his starts at all. Joey Sides is credited with 4/9 Mavericks shots after the first period.
The second period was very penalty-filled for both sides. Guys filtered in and out of the box almost immediately. Because of this, Cincinnati took advantage of one of their power plays and got on the board first. It is unfortunate considering just minutes prior, Halford came up with the best string of saves I've seen from a Mavericks goalie this season. He defends the delayed penalty but is beat on the penalty kill. Shortly after the physical game got turned up a notch and Jordan Klimek gets into a fight to stand up for a teammate who took an ugly hit. The penalties continue through the period and the score remains. Mavericks lead in shots 17-12 after 2.
The 3rd starts off with the Mavericks getting a huge 5 on 3 opportunity for 1:15. The Cyclone goalie not letting Mavericks find any holes. He was the same goalie that came in relief last night in the third period after the Mavericks 5 goal period. Cincinnati strikes again on a goal that looked a lot like the goal earlier in the game. The Mavericks appear to get more impatient and almost desperate for a goal but their play is not very clean as a result. Bad passes and turnovers appear to plague the team this period. Cincinnati's goalie read them like a book and does not let any of the 31 shots in. Mavericks split their weekend series and the Cyclones leave this game with a 2-0 victory.
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