BILOXI, Miss. � The Mississippi Sea Wolves rallied from three goals down to score four unanswered tallies and jump back into first place in the Southwest Division by knocking off the Arkansas RiverBlades 4-3 at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
The Sea Wolves captured their team record 42nd win of the year and have 88 points, which is one more point than idle Louisiana for second place.
Mississippi (42-23-4) continued their red-hot play at home extending their home winning streak to a team-record 11 straight games and home unbeaten streak to a team-record 17 consecutive games (15-0-2). The Sea Wolves last regulation loss at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum was on December 20.
Arkansas (34-22-11) opened the score at 2:54 on the power play. Dean Stork let go with a shot from the slot, placing it over the left shoulder of Greg Gardner. The goal for Stork was his 14th of the season.
The RiverBlades went up 2-0 at 6:11. Aaron Davis re-directed a centering pass from Jeremy Bachusz, to score his fourth of the campaign. The assist for Bachusz was his first professional point in his second pro game.
Arkansas kept pouring on the offense and made it 3-0. Jason Bermingham netted his 34th of the year at 7:05. Buddy Smith picked up an assist to add to his league-lead with his 97th point of the season.
Mississippi got rolling while on the penalty kill. John Evangelista potted his ninth of the campaign, beating Jimi St. John from the slot at 11:21, cutting the RiverBlades lead to 3-1.
In the second period, Sergei Kuznetsov closed the gap to one, scoring in close with the man advantage at 12:17. Mississippi completed its rally in the third. Kuznetsov tallied his second of the night from in front of the net. It was his 12th of the year, tying the score 3-3.
Then at the 9:03 mark. Cody Bowtell notched his 25th of the campaign from a scramble in front. It would be the eventual game-winning goal.
Gardner stopped 24-of-27 shots, raising his record to 30-16-4. St. John turned away 37-of-41 shots, falling to 6-9-2 on the season.
Mississippi converted on 1-of-7 chances on the power play. Arkansas went 1-for-8 with the man advantage.
Additional notes: During the first intermission a check of more than $54,000 was presented by the Sea Wolves organization towards two pediatric charities, Caps for Kids and Candlelighters in the First Annual Face-off Against Kids' Cancer. A special jersey auction helped raise the money.
Throughout the season, the Sea Wolves players have been paired with a child cancer patient and participated in many activities with them throughout the season.
In the second intermission, the Junior Sea Wolves Pee Wees were introduced for winning the Nashville Showdown Tournament last weekend. A banner was also unveiled at center ice.
The Sea Wolves next action is Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. against the Baton Rouge Kingfish at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Casino employees buying one ticket receive a second ticket free.
Individual game tickets are available at all Ticketmaster locations, the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office and by calling 228-594-3707.
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