The Cincinnati Cyclones hosted the Kansas City Mavericks on Friday night at the Heritage Bank Center, looking to bounce back after a tough 2-0 loss to the Iowa Heartlanders earlier in the week.
The Mavericks arrived fresh off a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory against the Tahoe Knight Monsters, where Justin MacPherson clinched the win with a goal just over two minutes into extra time.
Both teams had to contend with some significant absences. Kansas City was missing enforcer Daniel Amesbury, while the Cyclones were without key forwards Braeden Kressler (who was kneed by Nico Blachman of Iowa) and Chris Dodero.
#1 goaltender Pavel Cajan was also sidelined due to a concussion, although he’s expected to be back in action after a bit of rest.
For the game, Cincinnati Head Coach Jason Payne opted for a lineup of 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, also seeing some line shuffling. In goal for Cincinnati was Jon Gillies, while Kansas City’s Jack LaFontaine manned the net.
Period 1
The Cyclones came out attacking early, holding the Mavericks to zero shots on goal in the first 10 minutes due to their solid defensive play. They later earned two power play opportunities but failed to convert. On a positive note, defenseman Chas Sharpe started to let loose with his slapshots during the power plays once again, a great sign that he’s willing to take more chances moving forward.
As the first period wrapped up, Cyclones’ Tristan Ashbrook received a minor penalty for cross-checking, which later carried over into the second frame.
Period 2
KC later opened up the scoring after a Ryan McCleary penalty early in the second, as David Cotton scored his seventh goal of the season, making it 1-0 Mavericks.
The Cyclones finally managed to get their first shot on goal of the second period just over 18 minutes in, reflecting a disappointing offensive performance yet again. With just 1:12 left on the clock, KC extended their lead to 2-0 when Cade Borchardt skillfully wrapped a shot around the net and past Gillies for his team-leading 26th goal of the season.
At the end of two periods, the Cyclones had fired a lackluster two shots on net (12 through 40 minutes), not a recipe to beat a high-caliber team like KC.
Period 3
It was yet another blown power play chance to open up the third for the Cyclones, not even connecting a single shot on net during the entire two minutes.
With 8:30 left in regulation, Cincinnati’s Dante Sheriff took an undisciplined slashing penalty, but right after killing off the penalty, Tristan Ashbrook broke out on a breakaway, later sniping a shot past LaFontaine, trimming the deficit to 2-1.
With 1:30 left in regulation, Jon Gillies was pulled from the Cincinnati net, but it was to no avail, as the Cyclones eventually fell 2-1, dropping to 16-23-7-0 on the season.
The only positive things I can note from Friday’s game were Jon Gillies’s performance and that both the Bloomington Bison and Indy Fuel lost in regulation. However, with how many games the Fuel have in hand, it makes me think of how Cincinnati could’ve come a game closer to the final Central playoff spot with a win on Friday.
Sadly, it was the same story as Wednesday vs. Iowa for the Cyclones, lacking special teams play. The Cyclones went 0/4 on the power play again, also taking five penalties on top of that (many undisciplined), now sitting at a 16.1% power play success rate through 45 games. However, the penalty kill has been great at blocking shots and applying three-point pressure over this recent stretch, going 1/5 on Friday, but taking five penalties is not a recipe for success against a high-powered team like KC. Winning the special teams battles going forward is going to determine the fate of this team and if they will make it into the playoffs, so hopefully it is cleaned up.
Defensively, it was another solid game for Cincinnati, but offensively, something has got to give for Payne and his club. Twenty total shots against KC is just not good enough, and it leaves me wondering if this team can get back to their January form. Hopefully, they can use this four-day break to regroup and fine-tune the offensive side of their game, because they will definitely need improvement down the stretch.
Cincinnati will take a short break from games and will return to action on Wednesday night on the road against the Iowa Heartlanders at 8:00 PM EST.
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