A full bench came out for the last regular season game for the American Heartland Red Liners. Though they were down 2-0 in the first period, they fought back in the remaining two periods to tie up the game and send it into an overtime shootout. However the guys and gal in red would not loose 1-0 in the shootout and only earned a tie.
The first period began ominously as several shift by the Red Liners dragged on as they had trouble clearing the puck. Jokerit got on the scoreboard first after a offensive blue line turnover and breakaway. In the closing minutes of the period, Jokerit threaded a puck through high slot traffic and past Rocket, the Red Liners’ goalie.
But the Liners’ defense would start to clamp things down and even jumped into offensive attacks at Jokerit. Marooney prevented a clearing attempt by Jokerit and backhanded the puck behind the net. PJ’s picked up the puck and shot it on net. It was rebounded to a waiting TomTom who fired a backhand shot just past the goalie’s leg pad.
Being down one goal at the start of the third period, the Liners continued to turn up the heat on Jokerit. At the 6 minute mark, PJ would again start the scoring play. Fighting for the puck behind the Jokerit net, he fired it around the boards to a waiting TomTom. But this time, TomTom shot the puck across the slot where a waiting PJ easily fired it past the goalie. Kodi would have the last golden opportunity to score as a loose puck in front of an empty Jokerit net was gloved by their goalie. The clock would rundown with neither team scoring.
In the shootout, Jokerit went first. Their first shooter short early and just inside the near post. This would be the game winner. Rocket would use his jedi mind-trick as the two remaining Jokerit shooters would loose control of the puck and not get a shot off. The three Liner shooters would get shoots off but none past the Jokerit netminder.
In their last two games, the Red Liners earned a win and a tie (with shootout loss). This is much better than in their last 8 attempts. Overall, the team is easily much better than at the start of the season. As always, there is room for improvement for the team and individual players. This will need to be stressed in the upcoming practices. The first playoff game has not been scheduled yet.