BILOXI, Miss. � The Mississippi Sea Wolves defeated the Pensacola Ice Pilots 5-2 at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
With the win, the Sea Wolves improve their record to 3-1-0. While the Ice Pilots suffer their first regulation loss of the season, dropping to 2-1-1.
The teams played a scoreless first period. Ice Pilots goaltender Maxime Gingras made 18 saves. Sea Wolves netminder Greg Gardner turned away all 14 shots.
Mississippi�s Dave Paradise opened the score at 3:14 of the second. It was the fourth straight game Paradise tallied a goal. His fourth of the season, made it 1-0.
Sea Wolves captain Steffon Walby scored a great unassisted goal at 8:47. Walby busted through the Ice Pilots defenders and beat Gingras making it 2-0 Mississippi.
Pensacola solved Gardner later in the second. Chad Theuer tallied on the power play at 15:33, closing the gap to 2-1 for Mississippi.
In the third, Walby went back to work for the Sea Wolves on the power play at 4:38, as he stuffed in a loose puck in at the side. Walby�s second of the game and third over the past two contests, gave Mississippi a 3-1 cushion.
Less than two minutes later on another Sea Wolves man advantage, Paradise converted for his second of the night, making it 4-1 Mississippi.
The Ice Pilots responded at the 9:28 mark of the middle stanza. Theuer registered his second power play goal of the night, cutting the Sea Wolves lead to 4-2.
But at 10:33, Mississippi defenseman Jim Baxter was given a penalty shot opportunity. Baxter bulged the twine to score the first-ever penalty shot goal in Sea Wolves history, capping off the scoring.
Mississippi goaltender Greg Gardner made a number of phenomenal saves, backstopping the Sea Wolves to victory with 31 stops overall. Pensacola�s Gingras turned away 36-of-41 shots in the loss.
The Sea Wolves went 2-for-11 on the power play. The Ice Pilots were 2-for-13 with the man advantage. Worth noting:
Goaltender Chuck Thuss suited up as the emergency backup for Mississippi. The 30-year-old was forced on the bench due to injuries to goaltenders Mike Buckley and Sean Matile. Thuss played seven seasons of professional hockey including the past four seasons with the Sea Wolves. He was wearing uniform number 30. His customary uniform number 1 was not available. Thuss is the Sea Wolves Director of Player Development.
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