BILOXI, Miss. � In front of a season-high crowd of 6,113, Mississippi won its eighth straight home game by defeating Pensacola 6-3.
Mississippi maintains first place in the Southwest Division with 80 points, leading second place Louisiana by three points.
Pensacola (33-24-6) opened the score at 1:44. Veteran Greg Pankewicz buried a centering pass from Ryan O�Keefe, beating Greg Gardner. The goal was Pankewicz 38th of the campaign.
At the 3:16 mark, Gardner left the game due to not feeling well. Sean Matile took over in the Sea Wolves net.
Mississippi (38-21-4) responded at 7:16. Travis Lisabeth tucked the puck past Maxime Gingras from in close. Lisabeth�s 16th of the year, tied the score 1-1.
The Sea Wolves kept coming at the Ice Pilots. Cody Bowtell backhanded a pass in front and Steffon Walby swept it into the back of the net. Walby�s 36th of the season gave Mississippi a 2-1 lead.
Mississippi added to its lead on the power play at 4:38 of the middle stanza. Mike Scott cashed in his 21st of the year, giving the Sea Wolves a two-goal advantage. The Sea Wolves kept up their sustained pressure.
Rookie Josh Bennett tallied his first professional goal, scoring from a shot at the left circle at 10:40, making it 4-1 Mississippi.
The Ice Pilots closed the gap to 4-2 at 13:48. Pankewicz unleashed a blast from the left point, getting through traffic and Matile. Pankewicz second of the game was also his 39th of the season.
In the third, Walby moved in at the right circle and let go with a wrist shot into the back of the net at 1:24. Walby�s second of the game and 37th of the year gave the Sea Wolves a 5-2 lead.
Pensacola attempted a comeback. Mike Jones re-directed in his fourth of the season at 14:37, cutting Mississippi�s lead to 5-3.
The Sea Wolves sealed the win at 16:52. Sergei Kuznetsov deposited a wraparound goal for his 10th of the season to round out the scoring.
Gardner surrendered one goal on two shots. Matile made 31 saves and allowed two goals, raising his record to 11-7-0.
Gingras stopped 22-of-28, falling to 23-20-6.
Mississippi went 1-for-4 with the man advantage. Pensacola converted on 1-of-8 power play chances.
Additional Notes: The Sea Wolves activated forward Josh Bennett off the 7-day injured reserve earlier in the day and placed defenseman Chris Cava on the 7-day injured reserve ... Following the game, the Sea Wolves auctioned off special jerseys to benefit the Boy Scouts of America.
Mississippi�s next home game is Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. against the Arkansas RiverBlades. Casino employees buying an adult ticket receive one 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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