Lightning Tame The Mustangs

Lightning Tame the Mustangs…Again!

The Brisbane Lightning welcomed the Melbourne Mustangs to the cozy confines of IceWorld Boondall on Saturday June 1 for a repeat matchup of their close game the previous weekend.  In Melbourne, the Mustangs played a strong game that required a Lightning goal from Arum Rapchuk in the final 12 seconds to break a deadlock and allow the Brisbane team to steal a win.  One of the outcomes of that game for the Mustangs was also the loss of their top forward and leading points scorer Scott Timmins.  In what is a major loss for the ponies, he was suspended for 2 games after a spear to the midsection of Lightning centre Sacha Rapchuk.

Saturday’s game started very well for the Brisbane team.  They came out with a purpose to their play and pushed the pace offensively while still maintaining a strong defensive structure to keep the Mustangs at bay.  The Lightning opened the scoring with a goal off a rush from Patrik Popovics at 11:25 of the first frame.  This rush resulted from a nice defensive read from top import D Mitch Dyck to break up a neutral zone play and push the puck forward to Popovics.  The Popovics goal was followed approximately 1 minute later by a tally from Mongolian Batu Gendunov after a superb feed from behind the net by Arum Rapchuk.  The Lightning piled on with a further powerplay goal at 8:35 of the first period as Arum Rapchuk notched his team leading 7th goal of the season by sniping a puck past Melbourne goalie Logan Flodell with Batu Gendunov taking away the goalie’s eyes in front of the net.  Melbourne was able to get one back near the end of the first frame when Max Astafiev finished a 2 on 1 rush by putting the puck past Brisbane goalie Curtis Meger.  This was the only rubber that would elude Meger all afternoon, however, as the Lightning import saved all other pucks directed his way to complete another stellar performance between the pipes.

The second period was a back-and-forth affair that saw no scoring, but still plenty of action.  The Lightning penalty kill was particularly effective as they killed off penalties to Gendunov and Josh Labrie.  Some stellar PK work by penalty kill partners Arum and Sacha Rapchuk, Gendunov and Chance Adrian, and Labrie and Popovics kept the Mustangs off the board.

The third period saw the Lightning take control and put the game to bed.  The limited amount of Mustang shots were parried aside by Meger, and the strong backchecking and D work forced the Mustangs off the scoreboard.  A further goal for #87 Gendunov with his fourth goal of the season sealed the fate of the Mustangs, and the Brisbane boys ran away to a strong win that keeps them in second place in the Rurak Conference. 

The City Fertility Player of the Game was Zac Gumm, who started on the fourth line but ended up playing his way onto the third line by the end of the game. His strong defensive work and smart play in the offensive zone propelled him to this well-deserved award.  The Meat at Billy’s Grit Award was taken by towering D-man Neil Pretorius who had two strong games in a row against last season’s champions.

A successful 1-game weekend for the Lightning, and they are looking forward to seeing the visiting Sydney IceDogs for the first time next Saturday.