COLUMBUS, Ga. � Mississippi�s Sean Matile made 44 saves and stopped Tomas Micka in the eighth round of the shootout to preserve the Sea Wolves season-high eighth straight win by defeating the Columbus Cottonmouths, 4-3.
The Sea Wolves move into a tie for first place in the Central Division along with Louisiana, which had the day off. Both teams have 60 points. Columbus gains a point and moves into sole possession of third place with 50 points in the Central Division.
�It was a gutsy effort by Matile,� said Sea Wolves coach Bob Woods. �He was playing less than 100 per cent, but turned in a great performance. Guys were paying the price and found a way to win. I�m looking forward to Friday�s game at Louisiana, it�s going to be a playoff style atmosphere.�
Columbus (23-19-4) forward Jean-Francois Plourde had the best first period chance for the Cottonmouths. Plourde, alone in the slot midway through the stanza, was robbed by Sea Wolves goaltender Sean Matile, who stacked his pads and kept the puck out. Matile was terrific in the opening 20 minutes, making 15 saves as Columbus outshot Mississippi 15-5.
Mississippi (27-11-6) started the scoring with the man advantage at 17:42. Jeff Hutchins snapped home his team-leading 22nd goal of the year, beating Jason Tapp from the right circle. The goal also gave Hutchins goals in three consecutive games. Steffon Walby increased his point streak to nine games by adding an assist. Louis Dumont extended his point and assist streak to seven games by also picking up a helper.
In the second, the Cottonmouths tied the score 1-1 on the power play. Dan Tessier beat Matile on the 19th Columbus shot at 6:18, firing from the slot to extend his point streak to 11 games by netting his 6th of the season. Marc-Andre Thinel had the lone assist.
Just 57 seconds later, Columbus took its first lead of the game. Micka deposited on the rebound for his 10th tally of the campaign, assisted by Colin Pepperall and Thinel, for his second helper of the contest.
Mississippi knotted up the game, 2-2 at 12:59. Travis Lisabeth scored his 16th goal of the season on a sweet wrister from the left circle, extending his point streak to a career-high 11 games. Anthony Battaglia and Sergei Kuznetsov tallied assists.
The Sea Wolves used their momentum to grab back the lead. Steffon Walby sent a hard wrist shot past the stick side of Tapp on the power play, bulging the twine for his 21st goal of the year. Helpers were awarded to Jim Baxter and Dumont, who had his second of the game.
In the final minute of the second, Columbus pressed for the equalizer. John Morlang took the initial shot and Dan Tudin buried a rebound in tight with 27 seconds to go in the period, notching his 10th of the season.
After a scoreless third period, Matile made a game-saving pad save off John Morlang in the dying seconds of overtime. Morlang was denied from point blank range in front of the Mississippi net.
In the shootout, Sea Wolves� Dumont, Kuznetsov and Kerry Ellis-Toddington scored, in the eighth round for the decisive goal. Cottonmouths� Thinel and Colin Pepperall tallied for Columbus.
Matile would stop Micka to give Mississippi its eighth consecutive win.
Mississippi converted on 2-of-4 power play opportunities, while Columbus went 1-for-8. Cottonmouths outshot the Sea Wolves, 47-17.
The Sea Wolves continue their road trip at 7:05 p.m. on Friday against the Louisiana IceGators at the Cajundome in Lafayette. The game broadcast starts at 6:50 p.m. with the Nextel Pregame Show on ESPN Radio WXBD-AM 1490 and online at msseawolves.com.
Mississippi�s next home game is at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday, February 3 against the Florence Pride at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The broadcast gets underway at 6:20 p.m. with the Nextel Pregame Show on ESPN Radio WXBD-AM 1490 and online at msseawolves.com.
Flex packs, discounted group tickets and fundraiser opportunities are available by telephone at (228) 275-WOLF.
Individual game tickets can be purchased at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office, all TicketMaster locations and by calling (228) 594-3707.
--- Box Score ---
DATE - 01/27/04 Mississippi (4) at Columbus (3) SO
SCORE BY PERIODS
Mississippi 1 2 0 1--4
Columbus 0 3 0 0--3
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Mississippi-Hutchins 22 (power play) (Dumont; Walby) 17:42. Penalties: Ndur, CBS (Roughing), 1:53. Kean, MIS (High sticking), 4:45. O'Rourke, MIS (Holding), 7:42. Lisabeth, MIS (Hooking), 8:43. Tudin, CBS (Board check), 17:02. Rochon, MIS (Interference), 17:53.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Columbus-Tessier 6 (power play) (Thinel) 6:18. 3, Columbus-Micka 10 (Pepperall; Thinel) 7:15. 4, Mississippi- Lisabeth 16 (Kuznetsov; Battaglia) 12:59. 5, Mississippi-Walby 21 (power play) (Dumont; Baxter) 14:04. 6, Columbus-Tudin 10 (Morlang; Pepperall) 19:33. Penalties: Hutchins, MIS (Tripping), 5:20. Tessier, CBS (Interference), 10:43. Pepperall, CBS (High sticking), 13:52. Miller, MIS (Cross checking), 15:50.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: Cava, MIS (Cross checking), 6:54. Dumont, MIS (Tripping), 12:43. Pepperall, CBS (Hooking), 13:27.
OVERTIME -- Scoring: None. Penalties: Kuznetsov, MIS (High sticking), 2:45.
SHOTS ON GOAL
Mississippi 5 7 4 1--17
Columbus 15 14 13 5--47
Power Play Conversions: Mississippi - 2-of-4, Columbus - 1-of-8.
Goalies: Mississippi-Matile (47 shots, 44 saves; record: 12-2-3). Columbus-Tapp (17 shots, 14 saves; record: 5-2-1).
A: 1743. Referee: Rollins. Linesmen: Stanton; Wicklum.
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