The Melbourne Mustangs have claimed their second win of the weekend against the Adelaide Adrenaline with a 4–3 shootout win at the O’Brien Group Arena on Sunday night.
The teams were well matched throughout the weekend, ending every period locked in a draw with neither team able to get away.
“It was good to get a second win of the weekend,” Mustangs Coach Michael Flaherty said. “We keep working hard, we stick to our systems and our structures, and we get the results.
For Adrenaline Coach Trevor Walsh, he was disappointed with the result, but felt the team played better than the previous night.
“We had a better effort tonight, came up a little bit short though and couldn't put it away when we needed to,” Walsh said. “I was really happy with our defensive play. Last night we just didn't have any heart so I was a lot happier with the effort. We got one point, we were hoping for more but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Four and a half minutes into the first and Mustangs rookie Michael McMahon scored the first goal of his AIHL career with a slap shot from the blue line.
The Adrenaline responded two minutes later with a big shot from import defenceman Zack Firlotte fired into Mustangs goalie Fraser Carson’s pad before ricocheting off a Mustangs player and into the goal.
The second period saw some of the physical competition that featured in the previous night’s game with several altercations early in the period but neither team was able to get on the board until there was less than three minutes remaining in the period.
The Mustangs claimed the go-ahead with Jamie Bourke setting up James Isaacs in front of goals, who manoeuvred around Adrenaline goalie Peter King and pocketed it from the right side close up.
It took on 30 seconds for the Adrenaline to respond when Adrenaline forward Steve Best finished the period with a big shot from the blue line, straight past Carson.
Despite the goals against them, Flaherty was impressed with the Mustangs’ defence during the game.
“We did a good job, our D were able to get up onto the play and were able to keep that puck in the zone for long periods of time, which helped us build pressure on the other team’s defence and that’s because our defence are moving up and joining the play and getting up there,” Flaherty said.
Six minutes into the third, Brendan McDowell finished a centring pass from Sean Jones but again, it was a quick fight back from the Adrenaline through Wehebe Darge.
While there was still half the final period to go, the teams could not be split and the game went to a shootout.
Goals to Jamie Bourke in the first round and Vadim Vijassov in the third were enough to give the Mustangs the win with T.J Battani the sole scorer for the Adrenaline.
The Adrenaline will face off against the Bears in a double header next week in Adelaide, and the Mustangs will go up against the North Stars in Newcastle on Saturday, and the Ice Dogs in Sydney on Sunday.