Mustangs celebrate 4th of July with Brave shootout win

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The Melbourne Mustangs have held on to claim their second shootout victory of the season against a gallant CBR Brave outfit at the Medibank Icehouse on Saturday night.

Wearing commemorative American Independence Day-themed jerseys, the Mustangs started strongly and got out to a 2-0 lead after 11 minutes with goals to Jamie Bourke and Jeff Grant, but the Brave fought back and levelled the scores midway through the third period.

The Brave believed they had the go ahead goal on a power play three minutes later, but it was waved away, and both teams fought out a tense, penalty-riddled remainder of regulation time without troubling the scorers.
 
In the shootout that followed, the first three shooters, Bourke and Corey Banfield for the Mustangs and the Brave’s Scott Pitt, found the back of the net, while the Brave’s second shot from Kyle Mariani was saved by Fraser Carson. Vadim Virjassov then stepped up and closed out the shootout for the Mustangs to take the extra point.

Mustangs coach Brad Vigon was both relieved and disappointed by the result.

"We almost got out of jail there [when] they called back that last goal,” Vigon said. “I thought we were all over them in the first two periods and were unlucky not to be ahead by quite a few more but the puck just wouldn’t fall our way.”

“In the third period, they came out hard, they really wanted to get the equaliser and they did. We got into a lot of penalty trouble there and we were definitely on the back foot, so that goal they called back really gave us another opportunity. So [it was] great to get the two points but we need to be a bit better than that.”

CBR Brave captain Mark Rummukainen experienced similar emotions about the game.

“It was a bit up and down," Rummukainen said. "We had a bit of a slow start, unfortunately managed to fall back a couple of goals, then we thought we had it but referee said otherwise. It was fun towards the end and it’s good to get a point out of it at least.”

In his first AIHL game, rookie goaltender Aleksi Toivenen performed admirably for the Brave.

They look to have found a gem in this young Australian-born, Finnish national who saved 28 of the 30 shots he faced.

“We were pleasantly surprised with how he played," Rummukainen said of the 19-year old shot stopper. "He gave us a chance tonight and that’s all we can ask of him. If we would have shown up in the first period, I think it would have been a different story.”

After the Brave had allowed the first two goals and taken the first four penalties of the game, they regained control of the game towards the end of the second period when Brave’s leading goal scorer Kelly Geoffrey put away a rebound off a Kyle Mariani shot, to narrow the deficit to one.

They continued to apply pressure to the Mustangs through the start of the third period and it was taking its toll on the Melbourne team through a series of penalties.

Then in the tenth minute, young Brave forward Tyler Kubara levelled the score after a goalmouth scramble.

The following minute Viktor Gibbs Sjödin was handed a 10 minute penalty for a check to the head of David Dunwoodie and the ensuing power play almost resulted in a goal to Jordan Peddle but it was quickly called off for a hand pass. 

The no-goal call gave the Mustangs a lifeline they were unable to use to their advantage, as not long after they found themselves on an extended 5-on-3 power play, however they struggled for cohesion in front of the net and the Brave killed it successfully.

Though it is not an opportunity they often get in games, coach Vigon questioned whether the Mustangs would need to practise for the 5-on-3 advantage.

“Unfortunately we had a 5-on-3 and you’ve got to score in those situations and we didn’t score there," Vigon said. "We don’t really practise it that often because you don’t see them that often in the game, but obviously it’s a question now so maybe we should be practising it more, talking about it more.”

Conversely, Rummukainen was very pleased with his teammate’s penalty killing.

“In that situation all you can do it bear down and basically do you best and get a few lucky bounces here and there and manage to wear it out," Rummukainen said. "It was a good job by the boys”

The teams met again on Sunday.

Next week, the Brave travel to Adelaide to take on the Adrenaline, while the Mustangs travel to New South Wales, taking on the North Stars on Saturday and Ice Dogs on Sunday.