SHREVEPORT, LA – The Jackalopes’ penalty kill remained excellent, but the scoring did not follow suit. Coming off a bye week, the Jacks were shutout in their first regular season visit to Shreveport by a score of 6-0 in George’s Pond at Hirsch Coliseum.
Despite a strong opening shift by the Jackalopes, the first goal of the game was scored by former Jack Matt Hutton on a tough play as the net had become dislodged but his goal still counted as the referee ruled that Hutton’s shot would’ve gone in had the net been on its moorings.
The Jacks responded with a couple of strong shifts, but could not find the back of the net.
Instead it was Shreveport’s Brent Keefer scoring his first of three goals to give Shreveport a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission.
In the second period, the Jacks fell down 3-0 after a short-angle shot found its way in past goaltender Andrew Takacs. Odessa saw their best part of the game come in the late stages of the second period as their penalty kill successfully killed off a 36 second five-on-three disadvantage and Takacs made several close-in saves on the goalmouth before that.
The Jackalopes penalty kill was particularly of note on Friday evening as they killed off all five of Shreveport’s power plays and have remained perfect over the last three games, frustrating opponents in their last seven power plays.
Despite the positive end to the second period, the Mudbugs re-established themselves in the third, netting three goals to close out the night and force Odessa to settle for a 6-0 loss to start their weekend series.
The Jackalopes will close out the weekend on Saturday night against the Shreveport Mudbugs, face-off is set for 7:11 pm.
Photo: Danne’ Braden Photography
