Mustangs climb into 4th spot

Aleksi Toivonen recorded his second career shutout and the Melbourne Mustangs surged past their crosstown rivals Melbourne Ice with a 7-0 win. With the win, they move into 4^th spot on the AIHL ladder with three games remaining in their 2018 campaign.

The Mustangs put 4 goals past the Ice in the first period of the game to silence the Ice faithful at a packed O’Brien Group Arena, and extinguished the Ice’s slim AIHL Finals hopes in the final Melbourne Derby for season 2018.

Jamie Bourke opened the scoring with his 6^th goal of the season less than 90 seconds into the game when he used Marcus Wong as a screen and put it past Pine-Murphy with a wrist shot to make it 1-0. Nikita Kolesnikovs added his 4^th goal of the season 28 seconds later and just like that it was a 2-0 Mustangs.

It got worse for the Ice when Todd Graham was sent to the penalty box but the Ice were able to kill off the penalty and keep the difference to two goals.

It would be short lived.

The Mustangs’ piled on the pressure and were rewarded again 7 minutes later, when Bourke nabbed his 2^nd for the game to make it 3-0. Jack McCoy then made it 4-0 with his first goal of the season, and with that Jaden Pine-Murphy was chased out of the net and Michael James stepped in.

It was more of the same from the Mustangs in the 2^nd frame with Vadim Virjassov making it 5-0 with his 6^th for the season, less than three minutes into the period. Pat O’Kane would inflict more pain on the Ice with his 14^th goal for the year just 90 seconds later, and you could hear a pin drop at O’Brien Group Arena with the Ice contingent going quiet.

The Ice struggled to get any offensive momentum going despite the best efforts of Scott Corbett and Nate Fleming, who both had chances for the Ice to get on the board.

It was 6-0 at the end of the 2^nd period and the Mustangs could not put a foot wrong.

Brendan McDowell added another goal for the Mustangs just 90 seconds into the period and the score line read 7-0 to the Mustangs, with 18:30 remaining in regulation. A score line that had not been seen ever in the history of the Melbourne Derby.

Despite not being busy at the other end, Toivonen made several key stops including a point-blank save on Declan Bronte midway through the third period. Toivonen would also deny a good chance from Corbett to protect the shutout bid and keep his side from conceding.

A shutout would indeed prove to be the end result as the Mustangs defeated the Ice 7-0, taking the season series 2-1-1 and climbed into 4^th spot on the AIHL ladder with three games remaining. The Mustangs outscored the Ice 18-11 in their 4 meetings in 2018.

Mustangs’ head coach Max Langelier-Parent was happy with his side’s performance after the game.

“We got the start we wanted and took the wind out of them early. We’re a team that really focuses on fitness and speed and we used that to our advantage tonight,” said Parent.

With his team now in 4^th and games against the Thunder, Bears and Ice Dogs to come, Parent believes his team is relishing the challenge.

“We’ve been fighting for a while and we’ve been treating each game like a game 7,” said Parent.

“We’re just taking it game by game and just focusing on ourselves and the little things and that should give us a good chance to be there in September.”

The Mustangs will now face the Perth Thunder on Saturday 19^th August in their final home game for season 2018, as both teams battle for a place in the top 4.

The Ice will play the Thunder on Sunday at the O’Brien Group Arena.