Mustangs hold off North Stars in penalty-laden affair

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The MOAT: Melbourne Mustangs defeated the Proski Newcastle North Stars 6-3 in a penalty-laden game at the Medibank Icehouse on Saturday.
 
For the Mustangs, Joey Hughes picked up two goals and an assist whilst import defenseman Jeff Grant contributed with three assists.

For the visitors, a 46-save effort from Harrison May wasn’t enough to give the North Stars a much-needed win.
 
With much of the game spent either four-on-four, or with one team on the man advantage, it came down to whose special teams were the most devastating. Two short-handed goals and three on the power play ensured the victory for the Mustangs.
 
Mustangs’ head coach Brad Vigon is aware that a strong start is essential to their game plan.
 
“We seem to be a team that when we have a good start, we’re able to finish the game that way as well,” Vigon said. “Sometimes when we have a rough start and it takes us a long time to score our first goals, we feel like we’re fighting an uphill battle all the way but when we get a couple early we’re able to maintain that form and I think we did that tonight.“
 
The slow start to the game went out the window when Joey Hughes buried a rebound off May’s pads at with five minutes before the end of the first.
 
Viktor Gibbs-Sjödin and Hughes took advantage of a lackluster North Stars defence to each score a shorthanded goal while Adrian Nash was in the box for boarding to turn a scoreless first period into a 3-0 advantage within 135 seconds.
 
The North Stars clawed one back through Chris Wilson with just seven seconds left in the first period giving the visitors some much needed confidence going into the break.
 
The penalties started piling on in the second period but it was Jamie Bourke – fresh off a hat-trick last week – who scored the only goal of the second period, giving the top-of-the-table Mustangs a 4-1 lead going into the final period.
 
However, when it rains, it pours. After eight penalties in the second period, a further 17 were added in the final period, frustrating the North Stars who were trying to make a comeback.
 
On a power play, Sean Jones extended the Mustangs lead to 5-1 at early in the final period but when the North Stars’ Adam Geric buried one past Fraser Carson on the man-advantage the game was still in the balance with the North Stars starting to build some momentum.
 
It was Brendan McDowell who put the game out of reach of the North Stars picking up his sixth goal of the season with just over five minutes to play.
 
A late goal from Beau Taylor – also on the powerplay – wasn’t enough for the visitors who were outshot 52-34.
 
After the third game in a row where the Mustangs have had over 50 shots on net, import defenceman Jeff Grant recognized the importance of breaking down the league’s strong cohort of import goaltenders.
 
“We like to control the game,” Grant said. “We don’t want it up and back, so when we control the game and we put a lot of rubber on the net we control the game. Especially considering every team in this league has an import goalie - and they’re all pretty talented goalies that you can’t let get comfortable – it’s nice to get a lot of pucks on net, crash the net, and we’ve really been on that, even in practice.”
 
North Stars head coach Garry Doré was frustrated that the teams were not able to play much five-on-five hockey.
 
“It was just a matter of who got the right shot at the right time on the man-advantage,” Doré said. “We had a lot of man-advantage too. I’m not just saying it was one-way. It was one of those games where we weren’t allowed to play hockey.”
 
The Mustangs remain atop the AIHL standings but face a tough couple of weeks with back-to-back road trip double headers against Perth Thunder and CBR Brave respectively.

The North Stars are fighting for their season and will hope to put their Melbourne road trip behind them when they take on Melbourne Ice at their home barn on Saturday.