With several Red Liners participating in the the All Star Game, the part time squad was pulled into this match against the Screaming Zambonis. The scoring started quickly and frequently. The guys in black kept these drivers at bay and slid to an easy 11-2 victory.
On Pauley’s first shift, he rocketed out and scored back to back goals after dazzling the Zambonis’ goalie with a blistering wrister from the slot and another from the near corner. Dirky got the first line scoring with a corner shot of his own. Twank threaded the puck through a crowd of skaters with a wrist shot from the top of the circle. Dirky was awarded with his second goal in the closing minutes after he popped in a loose puck just past the Zambonis’ netminder. But the highlight of the period was Bigfield’s sprint to the blue line and his puck clearing just before an opponent grabbed it.
The scoring dropped in the second period as the longer changes weighed on the Liners. The Zambonis would get on the board by capitalizing on a power play. Twank would get his second goal of the game after picking up the loose rebound near below the circle and firing it quickly into the empty corner of the net. Watson would score his only goal of the game minutes later after one-handed dekeing the Zamboni goalie and lightly tapping the puck into the net.
The third period had the scoring reinvigorated as the Zamboni frustration built up. With the clock running, B-hole would score the first of his two goals at the five minute mark after a historic pinball play. Twank grabbed a loose puck in the neutral zone and tried to break through along the boards. As he crossed the line and met up with defensemen, he slid it passed legs to a crossing Baby who skated to the dot of the near circle where he found resistance. Baby then backhanded it to a crashing B-hole in the slot who grabbed the puck, skated wide but backhanded into the net. The likes of this play have not been seen with the Red Liners for some time. But the theatrics continued with Donna scoring back-to-back goals in a 45 second span: empty net rebound by the post and wrister from the slot into the upper net. With three minutes left in the game, the Zambonis did score their second goal after crashing the net but B-hole quickly answered that with a breakaway solo goal as the exclamation mark.
With this 13th win (and 2 ties), the Red Liners 28 points will guarantee them third place in the playoffs for now. With four games remaining, another win will guarantee at least second place. They hold a division leading 91 goals for and 61 GF-GA difference. They are the only team in the whole league without a regular loss. Probably their biggest challenge for the remaining regular season is their next game, the Devils (10-4-1-0) where they hope to continue their winning ways.