Buccaneers start quick, skate past Thunder in finale

Posted on February 27, 2017

By WJBC Staff

DES MOINES, Iowa – Des Moines capitalized on special teams to skate past Bloomington, 6-2, on Sunday afternoon at Buccaneer Arena.

The Buccaneers (29-14-1-3, 62 pts) converted on three power plays and added a short-handed tally, scoring at least once in each period to top the Thunder (18-22-3-2, 41 pts) in the series finale.

Vlad Dzhioshvili and Mitchell Mattson had the goals for the Thunder in the final game of a three-game weekend.

Des Moines started the scoring with a pair of quick goals in the first seven minutes of the opening period. Matt Hudie struck short-handed at the 4:23 mark of the first to give the Buccaneers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Just 2:09 later Des Moines scored its first power-play goal of the game to double the lead.

Although the Thunder have usually held the edge in the second period this season, including outscoring the Buccaneers 2-0 in the second period of the series opener, Des Moines continued to increase its lead in the middle frame on Sunday. Julian Napravnik had a pair of goals in the second period, among them a power-play goal, and Isaac Johnson added a power-play goal of his own to make it 5-0 after two.

Bloomington got on the board in the third, as Dzhioshvili potted his team-leading 17th tally of the year. With the puck loose in the low slot, Dzhioshvili got to it and punched it past Des Moines goaltender Nick MacNab with 5:09 gone in the final period.

After Des Moines answered on Colin Ugbekile’s goal 2 minutes, 16 seconds later, Bloomington cut back into the lead with Mattson’s 12th score of the year with 1:49 left in regulation. But it was too little, too late for the Thunder, which also had their streak of three straight games with a short-handed goal snapped.

Alec Mehr assisted on Dzhioshvili’s goal, stretching his point streak to a career-long four games.

The Thunder’s schedule doesn’t get much easier this week, as they play their second consecutive three-weekend, starting with a two-game series in Dubuque on Thursday and Friday night. Bloomington returns home next Saturday to host Madison.

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