BILOXI, Miss. � Mississippi scored four power play goals to down the Pensacola Ice Pilots, 5-1 at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
The Sea Wolves lead in the best-of-five Southwest Division Semifinals series, 2 games to 0.
Mississippi continued to extend two team records, winning its 14th straight home game and making it 20 consecutive unbeaten games at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, posting an 18-0-2 record over that span. Mississippi�s last loss in regulation was on December 20, 2002.
The Sea Wolves got on the board first with the man advantage at 5:28. Travis Lisabeth tallied his first of the postseason beating Maxime Gingras.
Mississippi made it 2-0 at 12:46. Cody Bowtell whistled a slap shot into the back of the net from the left circle. The goal was Bowtell�s first of the playoffs.
In the second, the Sea Wolves scored another goal on the power play. Bowtell potted his second of the game, giving Mississippi a 3-0 lead.
The Sea Wolves connected with another power play marker at 2:20. Jim Baxter let fly with a slap shot from the point. The puck hit the goal post, went off of Gingras and over the goal line. Baxter�s first of the postseason gave Mississippi a 4-0 cushion.
Mississippi continued its mastery with the man advantage at 5:39. Captain Steffon Walby tallied his second of the playoffs to give the Sea Wolves a commanding 5-0 lead.
Gardner turned away all 20 shots that he faced through 40 minutes of action, including some great stops during two Pensacola power plays in the middle stanza.
The Ice Pilots got on the board with their 22nd shot of the game at 17 seconds of the third period. Greg Pankewicz buried a Brad Dexter rebound for his third of the playoffs.
Gardner stopped 27-of-28 shots, raising his postseason record to 2-0. Gingras made 30 saves on 35 shots, dropping to 1-2 record in the 2003 Kelly Cup Playoffs.
Mississippi converted on 4-of-7 opportunities on the power play. Pensacola failed to tally on two chances with the man advantage.
Game 3 is tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. at the Pensacola Civic Center. The game will be broadcast on the internet at MsSeaWolves.com. Locally you can also join other Sea Wolves fans by listening to the game at Grand Casino, Gulfport (Sports Pub) and Grand Casino, Biloxi (Wild Coyotes).
Individual playoff tickets are available at all TicketMaster locations, the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office and by calling 228-594-3707.
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