TALKING POINTS
It looked like Grey was going to run away with this one. Before the game started, the consensus of those in the office was that the rosters were stacked in Grey’s favor, and that’s exactly how it played out through two periods. Grey appeared to break the game open with three goals in 1:35 midway through the second period and led 6-2 going into the third.
But Green rallied big time at the end. Josh Winquist scored twice with the goalie pulled as Green got within one at 6-5. Then with 5.6 seconds left and a face-off in the Grey zone, Kohl Bauml won it cleanly back to Winquist. Winquist got off a good shot, but Austin Lotz just got a piece of his pad on it to save the game.
Reid Petryk and Patrick Bajkov each scored two goals to lead Grey. Mirco Mueller added a highlight reel goal, where he pulled the puck between his legs and shot from behind his front foot, Mario Lemieux style (or Zach Hamill style, if you’re of a certain vintage as a Silvertips fan). That was a skill play for a top-end forward, let alone a defenseman like Mueller. Winquist and Patrick Khodorenko both had two goals for Green.
There were some very impressive performances by youngsters in this game, especially considering all the veterans played who weren’t dinged up. The 16-year-old Bajkov and the 15-year-old Khodorenko both not only scored two goals, but both had a great individual effort where they beat their defender and scored past the goalie. Fifteen-year-old Kevin Mokhtari had a similar goal for Green. For all three it followed up on impressive showings during training camp.
Lotz finally was scored upon after being perfect during scrimmages. But he made the most important save at the game’s end. Isn’t it classic closer behavior to allow runs with a big lead in a non-save situation?
I’m told there will be no official word on cuts tonight, so I suppose we’ll find out who’s still around tomorrow. We do know that those who didn’t play in the game have been cut, with the exception of the injury scratches.
BOX SCORE
Grey 6, Green 5
Green 2 0 3—5
Grey 2 4 0—6
First Period—1, Green, Khodorenko 1, 1:54. 2, Grey, Aasman 1, 9:56. 3, Grey, Bajkov 1, 11:08. 4, Green, Mokhtari 1 (Fyten), 18:32. Penalties—none.
Second Period—5, Grey, Petryk 1 (Sandhu, Raymond), 1:50. 6, Grey, Mueller 1, 9:51. 7, Grey, Bajkov 2 (White), 10:01. 8, Grey, Petryk 2, 11:26. Penalties—Nobach, Grey (hooking), 11:57; MacDonald, Grey (holding), 18:49.
Third Period—9, Green, Khodorenko 2 (Durflinger), 12:21. 10, Green, Winquist 1 (Stadnyk), 18:50 (pp). 11, Green, Winquist 2 (Bauml, Penner), 19:27. Penalties—Mueller, Grey (high sticking), 3:21; Durflinger, Green (cross checking), 6:16; Lotz, Grey (delay of game, served by Bajkov), 12:47; Durflinger, Green (slashing), 15:28; MacDonald, Grey (slashing), 16:55.
Shots on goal—Green 5-8-15—28. Grey 10-13-6—29. Power-play opportunities—Green1 of 5. Grey 0 of 2.
Goalies—Green, Cotton (10 shots, 8 saves), Stone 0-1 (13 shots, 9 saves), Amundrud (6 shots, 6 saves). Grey, Hart (5 shots, 3 saves), Petit 1-0 (8 shots, 8 saves), Lotz (15 shots, 12 saves).
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