Last night the Jacks took on the Shreveport Mudbugs for the first time this season. Odessa was coming off a bye week and Shreveport picked up three of four points against Oklahoma City last weekend. The season series between these two teams last year was split at 4-4.
The Jacks had a multitude of scoring chances early on, but it would be the Mudbugs striking first. After Garrett Steele (3) deflected a shot from the point nearly five minutes into the opening period. Both teams continued to pour on the shots but after 20 minutes the score remained 1-0 Shreveport. The Jacks had 12 shots and the Mudbugs had 13.
Odessa continued to fight in the second period and were rewarded with a goal. Josh Austin made a spectacular pass to Emerson Goode (3), who was able to beat Simon Bucheler glove side. Both teams would head into the second period locked at 1-1. The Mudbugs were outshooting the Jacks, 26-18.
In the final period, Shreveport would once again take the lead after Sutton Murray (1) beat Gergely Orosz from the top of his crease. Making it a 2-1 game with about 11 minutes remaining in regulation. The score would only change via an empty-net goal from Logan Valkama (1) in the final minute of the game. The final horn sounded shortly after resulting in a 3-1 victory for Shreveport. They outshot Odessa 39-23. The Jacks went 0/4 on the powerplay and the Mudbugs went 0/2.
The loss puts Odessa on a six-game losing streak (0-5-0-1) which ties last year’s season long. As for Shreveport, they are on a four-game point streak (2-0-1-1). Head Coach Scott Deur had this to say following the loss, “I think our goaltending was fantastic. Greg kept us in the game and overall, I was really happy with his play. But we got to find a way to score goals and finish on the powerplay.” Puck drop for game two is scheduled for 7:11pm CDT.
