The script could hardly have been written much better for the Texas Tornado.

On the first night of a three-game series against the Alaska Avalanche, the Tornado exploded offensively with a 10-goal, 52-shot outburst to roll to a 10-4 victory Thursday night at the DejaBlue Arena in the Dr Pepper StarCenter in Frisco.

The win pulls the Tornado to within three points of the Avalanche for the fourth and final playoff spot in the South Division, and with two more contests coming up this weekend, Texas could very well find themselves in fourth when it’s all over. Alaska has now lost six in a row and are just 1-7-2 in their last ten, a tailspin that has allowed the Tornado to gain a lot of ground over the past several weeks while fashioning a 6-3-0 stretch of their own.

Texas received contributions throughout the lineup, as eight different players scored goals, including recent addition Sergei Korostin, the Dallas Stars’ third-round draft choice in 2007 who skated in his second NAHL game after joining the club last weekend.

Four different players registered three points each, as Andrew Blazek notched two goals and an assist, while Korostin and Sam Goodwin each collected one goal and two assists and John Bullis added three assists. Gustav Bengtson also scored two goals.

Further emphasizing the balance in their offensive attack is the fact that the Tornado’s top goal scorer, Ben Van Lare with 19, did not have any, although he did have an assist and led the club with eight shots on goal.

The Tornado rebounded from an early 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead into the first intermission and were up 5-3 going into the third before erupting for five goals in the third period. The outburst was the Tornado’s biggest output of the season, and their 52 shots on goal surpassed last Saturday’s 46 (in a 2-1 loss to Fairbanks) as their season-high.

Despite the big triumph, Texas coach Dwight Mullins cautioned his team not to get too excited.

“I think the biggest thing for us is, we need to realize that tonight is tonight and tomorrow is tomorrow,” Mullins said. “We’ve worked hard to get to this point. I think it took us a while to get going, I thought we played a very sloppy hockey game for the majority of the game. We ended up capitalizing a little bit on the fact that they had to open up and as a result, we ended up scoring some goals and having some odd-numbering situations that, in a tight hockey game, you’re not going to have. The message to my hockey team is we’ve got a big part of our weekend still left to go, and this doesn’t mean anything if we don’t come with a better effort tomorrow.”

The Tornado fell behind 2-0 in the first seven minutes, but rebounded quickly, scoring goals 16 seconds apart to tie it at 2-2 shortly thereafter.

The Avalanche jumped out to the quick lead, as Kyle Pichler connected just 2:20 into the contest on a long wrist shot from just inside the blue line that eluded Tornado goaltender Tommy Callaghan, who made 25 saves overall.

Callaghan made a big stop on Tyler Currier 6:05 in, as he dove across the crease to save Currier’s point-blank shot from in front with the outstretched paddle of his stick.

But Alaska extended the lead to two on Pichler’s second of the game and 15th of the year just 15 seconds later and exactly four minutes after their first goal. Callaghan made the save on Currier’s wrist shot from the right circle, but the rebound trickled over to Pichler at the left post, and he swatted it into the empty side of the net for a 2-0 Avalanche lead.

The Tornado quickly dug themselves out of that hole as Bengtson collected his first goal of the night just 1:03 later, firing a high wrist shot from the right face-off circle that Alaska netminder Dusan Sidor got his glove on. But the puck fell out of his glove without him realizing it and landed right in the crease, and the charging Bengtson beat an Alaska defender to it and poked it into the empty net at 7:23.

Texas then came right back on the attack and Goodwin tied it on his 10th of the year at 7:39. After Blazek shoveled the puck at Sidor from the side of the net, the rebound popped out front and Goodwin swept through the crease, made a quick move to his backhand and lifted the puck over the prone Sidor.

“The exciting thing is that we looked at some of these kids that really learned to get their feet wet the first half of the year and they’re good players and now we’re starting to reap the benefit of that,” Mullins said. “I give Sam and the other guys that have been here from day one a lot of credit - mentally, it’s been a very demanding season on us. Not only mentally, but physically. They’re really starting to develop and have a lot of confidence and turn into good players for our hockey team.”

The Tornado nearly took the lead with 8:39 remaining in the first, as Jason Zawacki stole the puck at center ice raced in on a shorthanded breakaway, but Sidor managed to get a piece of his backhander. The puck landed in the crease and rolled towards the goal line, but Avalanche defenseman Jason Cohen cleared it out of harm’s way.

Ryan Fuller then gave the Tornado their first lead of the night with 1:41 left in the period, connecting for his 12th goal of the season. After Korostin fed him in the high slot, Fuller’s off-speed wrist shot beat Sidor between the legs, giving Texas a 3-2 advantage going into the second period. That goal marked Korostin’s first NAHL point - undoubtedly the first of many.

With all the momentum on their side to start the second, the Tornado quickly gave it away, as Fuller was whistled for interference at 4:40 and Alaska capitalized on the ensuing power play, needing just 26 seconds with the man-advantage to even the game at 3-3. Jeremiah Dargis, stationed at the left post, re-directed a perfect set-up from Teddy Zierden for his 13th goal of the season.

The Tornado responded by attacking again and did a great job, as they did all night, of getting traffic in front of Sidor and making it hard for him to see the shots against him. On just such a play, Blazek picked up his first goal of the contest at 9:25 to propel the Tornado back into the lead, one they wouldn’t relinquish again. After Sidor stopped Troy Puente’s shot from the blue line through a screen, Blazek managed to get to the loose rebound in front and pop it in.

“I just think that we’re starting to figure out that we have some confidence,” Coach Mullins said of the Tornado’s ability to answer quickly each time Alaska scored. “I think we’re very, very deep up front with our forwards, and that allows us the opportunities to get back in games.”

Texas continued to control the play throughout the period, culminating in John Kruse’s seventh goal of the season with 2:29 to go, a seeing-eye wrist shot from the top of the left face-off circle that sailed past a maze of bodies in front and into the upper left corner of the net to give the Tornado a 5-3 lead.

After outshooting the Avalanche 20-9 in the second period, Texas continued to press in the third.

Callaghan did make a big save to preserve the two-goal lead just 2:10 into the final period, though, denying Alex Rasmussen’s fierce wrist shot from the slot.

As the period progressed, Alaska began to take more and more chances in the offensive zone and that led to a slew of odd-man rushes the other way. Just 25 seconds after Callaghan’s energizing save, Van Lare carried into the Avalanche zone on a 2-on-1 rush, opting to shoot from right in front, but Sidor made the save. Van Lare collected his own rebound, curled around the net and tried to stuff it in at the right post, but Sidor slid across and smothered it.

Korostin then collected his first NAHL goal and it opened the floodgates for the Tornado offensively, making it 6-3 at 10:14. After Augie Hoffman’s wrist shot from the left point went wide, the puck took a lively bounce off the end boards behind the net and went right to Korostin just to the right of the goal. He immediately fired a wrist shot from a sharp angle that appeared to bank into the net off the inside of Sidor’s pads for the big three-goal lead.

“I’m very excited about Sergei Korostin being in our lineup and for a young man to travel across the world on his own at 18 years old and jump in says a lot,” Mullins said. “He’s been a big boost to what we’re doing here. You don’t end up being drafted 64th overall in the NHL because you can’t play. There’s a lot of pressure on him, too. I think our biggest deal is we want to support him. He’s here for the big picture, he wants to learn the culture and continue to play hockey and we’ll try to keep doing our part.”

With the Avalanche reeling, the Tornado turned up the pressure and made it 7-3 with 5:14 to go on Bengtson’s second of the night and eighth of the season, as he beat Sidor with a quick wrist shot after receiving a nice pass from Bullis on a 2-on-1 rush.

Alaska made one last gasp as Currier scored his 12th of the year with 3:25 remaining. Currier made a nice move in close to pull the puck around Callaghan on his backhand and depositing it in the net, after taking a pass from Tommy Engseth behind the net.

But as they did all night, the Tornado responded to an Alaska goal with one of their own shortly afterwards, as Blazek collected his second of the game and fifth of the season - in just nine games - exactly one minute later to make it 8-4. This time, it was on a 2-on-0, as Goodwin fed Blazek in the slot, and Blazek unleashed a quick wrist shot over the beleaguered Sidor’s shoulder.

The Tornado kept pouring it on, as Matt Tennyson got his third of the year with 1:01 left, beating Sidor with a nice wrist shot after receiving a pass from Bullis on a 4-on-2 rush.

Adam Mitchell then put the exclamation point on the victory with his sixth of the season with 25.2 seconds on the clock after pouncing on an Alaska turnover in the left circle and coming in alone on Sidor. Mitchell made a nice deke to his backhand and slid the puck in for the big finish, completing a magical third period in which Texas scored five goals and outshot Alaska 21-7.

“I just think that those are nights that you’re going to have when other teams take risks and chances, other guys are going to get opportunities,” Mullins said, downplaying the third period barrage. “For some of the guys, they worked hard, did little things that put them in good positions to score and they were able to capitalize.”

With the big victory over a slumping team, the Tornado need to re-set their focus to the next one and not take this one for granted. Coach Mullins emphasized how much the club had been looking forward to this series as a chance to make their move and get themselves back into the playoff picture after a disastrous stretch in November and early December in which they went 1-15-2 over a span of 18 games.

Now that they have clawed back to within three points of Alaska, they can’t let up now, with return engagements coming up both Friday and Saturday nights at the DejaBlue Arena (7:30 pm starts - listen to Tommy Daniels and myself with the call of the games on b2 networks).

“We’ve had this date circled for a long time and it’s here,” Mullins noted. “I would have liked to have been a little bit closer in striking distance, but reality is, we’ve kept them in our sights. We’ve got to take another step again tomorrow. That’s the importance of the weekend, it’s not just about one night. We have to have three good days here.”

This was a good start. Now, on to the next one.

THREE STARS

3. Sam Goodwin, Texas (one goal, two assists, +3)
2. Ryan Fuller, Texas (one goal, one assist, +3)
1. Sergei Korostin (one goal, two assists, +3, six shots on goal)

 

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