BATON ROUGE ZYDECO at MONROE MOCCASINS

ZYDECO MOUNT COMEBACK WITH TWO THIRD PERIOD GOALS, WIN 4-3 IN SHOOTOUT

by Joseph Furtado

Monroe, LA - Dmitry Kuznetsov delivered in the shootout as the Baton Rouge Zydeco earned a 4-3 victory over the Monroe Moccasins on Tuesday night, extending their win streak to five games in a dramatic “Battle of Louisiana” matchup.

Kuznetsov, who tied the game late in regulation, scored the decisive goal in the second round of the shootout. Breandan Colgan stopped all three Monroe shooters, sealing the win for Baton Rouge.

The Moccasins (4-5-4-0-1) struck first when Blake Anderson converted on the power play early in the second period at 06:16. The Zydeco (6-3-1-1-2) answered with Jake Cox’s even-strength tally at 14:31 before Kalle Koivuniemi put Monroe back in front just over a minute later, with his first of his career.

Ben Stefanini extended the Moccasins lead to 3-1 in the third period, but Baton Rouge responded with back-to-back goals from Kuznetsov and Gehrig Lindberg to force overtime. Monroe outshot Baton Rouge 5-3 in the overtime, but couldn’t solve Colgan. Sean Kuhn, who made 29 saves in regulation and overtime, was beaten by Kuznetsov’s lone goal in the shootout.

These two teams will meet again on Saturday night in Monroe, as the Moccasins aim for revenge. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM at the Monroe Civic Center.

Zydeco Come from Behind to Win Franchise Record 5^thStraight

by Andy Poetzinger

Monroe, LA - This team just will not go away. Trailing the game 3-1 with nearly 6 minutes left in the game, the Zydeco found a way to pot two goals in a minute and a half to tie the game and send it to overtime.

The game was scoreless through the first, and the Moccasin’s broke the ice with a goal from Blake Anderson, his 4^th of the season, all set up by a great move from Ben Steffanini to put him one on one with Colgan and he beat Colgan over the glove. 

The Zydeco would answer thanks to a patient play from Jake Cox as he held the puck to put himself in a better shooting position and he ripped it past Sean Kuhn for his 3rd of the season. Monroe would answer just over a minute later as Calle Koivuniemi pinched in from the defense position, got a pass from Steffanini and outwaited Breandan Colgan to give Monroe a 2-1 lead through two periods.

The third period saw teams trade chances, but Ben Steffanini collected his 3^rd point of the day and 4^th goal of the year as he beat Colgan between the legs on the third breakaway goal for Monroe of the game. 

Four minutes later, Dmitry Kuznetsov would receive a pass from Tyler Larwood and saw he had plenty of space to walk in and wire a shot just under the crossbar for his fifth of the season to bring the Zydeco back to one goal down. 

About a minute and a half later, Gehrig Lindberg walked the line and let a wrist shot go with traffic heading to the net, and Sean Kuhn who reached across his body to glove the puck, watched it sail behind him to tie the game at 3, and that is how regulation would end.

Both teams traded opportunities in overtime, and the Zydeco killed off the final 41 seconds on the penalty kill to send it to a shootout. After a scoreless first round with Matthew Gordon and Blake Anderson missing their chances. Dmitry Kuznetsov would score his 3^rd shootout goal of the year in round two as Colgan denied Helmer Oskarsson. The final round saw Jake Cox unsuccessful in his attempt and Colgan beat Steffanini to secure the victory for the Zydeco.

Baton Rouge improves to 10-3-0-1 on the season and have won 5 straight games for the first time in franchise history. The next game for the Zydeco will be tomorrow night against the Columbus River Dragons for the second game of the “Thanksgiving Week Gauntlet”. You can catch the game on YouTube for that contest. Puck drop is at 6:05, and pre-game show starts at 5:40.