20 Straight. Rutherford’s 60 Save Effort Falls Short. (1/4)

MONROE, LA - The Dashers hit the ice again with the Moccasins looking for a much needed victory. However, Parker Rutherford’s 60 save effort would fall short in the final 2:20, as the Moccasins stunned the deer late to complete the sweep and push the losing streak to 20 games.

Shaking off a rough loss last night, the Dashers hit the ice for their fourth battle with the Moccasins. A pair of new faces took their place between the pipes in Parker Rutherford and Markus Ekholm-Rosen. The Dashers looked solid in period 1, generating some high percentage chances but were unable to cash in. They also killed an early penalty and even generated an odd man rush shorthanded, but Ekholm Rosen shut it down. Towards the end of the frame, the Mocs got going. Conway ripped a breakaway chance off the post and Rutherford was then tasked to answer the bell on a few flurries of shots. There were a cumulative 5+ combined scoring chances that absolutely should’ve been tallies, but both teams struggled to hit the net. When all was said and done in the first 20, there was no blood but the snakes dominated in shots 22-10, with a majority of the cluster coming in the final 5 minutes. 

Period 2 was a fun one to say the least. The Dashers played poised and composed hockey from start to finish. It took just over 3 minutes for rookie Yegor Kabatayev to light the lamp on a wrister that Ekholm Rosen got about 50% of before it crossed the line. Frustrated, big man Trygve Many Guns took a roughing penalty around the midway point. Back to the power play, a clean faceoff win by Trey Fischer led to Kim Miettinen rifling home a shot from the point to double the lead. However, the Mocs would get one back. 4 minutes later, Scott Coash snapped a vacant puck past Rutherford to cut into the deficit at 2-1. Moments later, Dashers leading goalscorer Nikolai Salov got hit up high and was escorted off the ice to miss the remainder of the game. In the closing moments, Helmer Oskarsson caught the worst of a reverse hit, and immediately charged off the ice for facial repairs. By this time, Many Guns' frustration boiled over, jumping Dasher D man Jonatan Wik and slamming him to the ice after a brief bout and then exchanging some choice words. Then, another late flurry for the Mocs came up unsuccessful, as the Dashers took a 1 goal lead to the dressing room, outshooting Monroe 19-13 in the second frame.

20 minutes is all that stood between the Dashers and shattering this dreaded losing streak. You could bet that Monroe was going to give everything they had to counter that. The first 5 minutes went by in the blink of an eye, but that’s when the ice tilted. Monroe drew a powerplay on a good penalty by WIll Chateauvert to negate a breakaway. But then they gathered all the momentum. It seemed like in the final 15 minutes, the puck didn’t leave the Dashers end. They had parked the bus, and any touch they got was to clear it. The Dashers clinged to their one goal lead all the way down to the 2:20 mark, but a horrendous turnover gift wrapped a goal to Declan Conway to tie the contest. Flashbacks of the December 6th loss crossed the minds of all of Dasher Nation. 57 seconds after the equalizer, new addition Kyle Heitzner tipped home a wrist shot through Rutherford to give the Mocs their first lead of the night with 1:23 remaining. AJ Tesoreiro challenged for a high stick, but the goal was confirmed and the snakes were able to skate out the remaining time en route to a weekend sweep in dazzling fashion. The shots in the third period were 27-9 in favor of Monroe.

The Dashers fall for the 20th consecutive time this season, with their record dwindling to 1-19-3. They will host the Port Huron Prowlers next Friday and Saturday inside the David S. Palmer Arena. The Moccasins jump to 11-8-7 and will host the Mississippi Sea Wolves next Friday and Saturday at the Monroe Civic Center.