The matchups between the Red Liners and Centurions are always spirited events. But with upgrades in the Cen’s defense, the Liners had to fight harder. Unfortunately, they would relax in the closing minutes and allow the Cen’s to claw back for a tie.
The first period scoring began with MK stuffing a low lsot rebound just under the Cen goalie’s arm. But the Cens would tie it up toward the end of this period with a powerplay goal. The second period would be all Red Liners from the very start. Dr. Watson would rifle a top corner goal off a pass from Senor Cabeza. Minutes later, Don would slide in his own rebound for the Liners’ third goal of the game. The rest of the period was a back and forth affair for both team. B-hole did score his team leading 4th goal off Dr. Watson’s pass.
The third period did swing back and forth initially. The Cen’s would pull within 2 goals in the early minutes of the period. Senor Cabeza would return the goal from a blue line slapshot that just slipped through the slot traffic. But sensing the desperation, the Cen’s defense turned up the shooting with 3 unanswered goals in the last 5 minutes, 2 in the last 75 seconds. The tying goal was a deflection off a stick in a blue line slapshot block attempt. The Liners were getting flustered with their inability to clear the puck out of the zone and getting deked by some speedy Cen skaters. The shootout would only have 1 scorer per side, leading to a tie.
The guys and gal in red knew they had this win in hand, but they felt they relaxed in the waning minutes and played down to the Cen’s level. Some admitted to assuming their teammates would pick up forecheckers if they themselves get deked. Others realized the points were not well covered at times which made it difficult to clear the puck. These familiar themes will likely be addressed over and over throughout the season. With the 5 wins, the Red Liners got a bit complacent. Maybe this tie will be the shock to get them back on track.