Two down, one to go.

On the second night of a three-game series with the Alaska Avalanche, the Texas Tornado delivered another impressive performance in a 5-1 victory Friday night at the DejaBlue Arena in the Frisco Dr Pepper StarCenter, moving them to within one point of Alaska for the fourth and final playoff spot in the South Division.

A win Saturday night would propel the Tornado into fourth place, a prospect that seemed too unrealistic to dream about just six weeks ago when they were reeling and suffering through a nine-game losing streak. But Texas has been on a roll since coming home in mid-December, fashioning a 7-3-0 record over their last 10 outings, all in Texas, while the Avalanche have struggled to a 2-10-1 mark in their last 13, including seven straight losses.

“We’re treating these games like they’re playoff games right now,” said Tornado center Ryan Fuller, who was honored before the game for establishing a new franchise record for career games played, as he skated in his 197th contest. “We need every point we can get so we can get into a playoff spot, so these are our playoffs right now. Our team has grown so much since the first time we played them, we lost 8-1 (back on Oct. 27 in Alaska) and we’ve just grown as a whole unit and individually, too.”

After an offensive explosion led them to a 10-4 triumph Thursday night, the Tornado put forth a better, more complete effort Friday, once again receiving contributions throughout the lineup. After eight different players scored the night before, five different Tornado skaters tallied, as they outshot the Avalanche 39-20.

The Tornado once again fell behind early, as the Avalanche grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first five minutes, but Texas battled back, and had taken control of the game with a 2-1 edge by the time they got to the first intermission.

“I thought tonight was a lot different game and we ended up down a lot different than what we did last night,” Texas coach Dwight Mullins said. “I thought last night was really sloppy effort and we were lucky to be able to hang in and find a way, but I thought tonight that we really played well.”

Andrew Blazek and John Bullis each had a goal and an assist, while Sergei Korostin, Sam Goodwin and Gustav Bengtson also scored. Ben Van Lare and captain Sean Roadhouse collected two assists each, and goaltender Tommy Callaghan came up big when he had to, making 19 saves.

Defenseman Matt Tennyson also had an outstanding performance, playing excellent defense, adding one assist and firing seven shots on goal to earn the game’s second star.

“For a young man, he’s been in a lot of situations and it’s just the maturity level of being through the league once now, everybody’s done a loop,” Mullins said of Tennyson. “You can compare that to Sam Goodwin. These players have really responded to the opportunity to be key players all year and we’re getting the benefit of it now at a time that we really need it.”

Heading into the second with a 2-1 lead, the Tornado extended it to 3-1 just 1:29 into the period on Korostin’s second goal in as many games. After Alaska netminder Nathan Corey - who started in place of Dusan Sidor, who surrendered 10 goals Thursday night - stopped John Kruse’s wrist shot from the high slot, Korostin, stationed just to the right of the crease, managed to get his stick on the loose rebound and poke it past Corey.

The Dallas Stars’ third round draft choice last June, Korostin, who just arrived from Russia last weekend and is still just learning English, has gotten better with each outing. He led the Tornado with eight shots on goal in the game.

Callaghan made a big save 8:45 into the second when he denied Kent Detlefsen’s scorching wrist shot from the left face-off circle on the rush.

Just 20 seconds later, Callaghan again came up big, denying Kyle Politz’s off-speed one-timer from in front after he received a nice pass from behind the net by Alex Young.

The Tornado then counter-attacked with a chance down the other end just seven seconds later as Blazek fired a quick wrister from the left face-off circle, but Corey thwarted him.

Texas got into penalty trouble late in the second period, as Alaska enjoyed four successive power plays in the second half of the period going into the early third, but the Tornado managed to kill them all.

Tyler Currier set up a prime opportunity with the man advantage with 3:10 left in the second, as he fed Joe Harren with a lead pass as he cut in on Callaghan all alone, but Harren couldn’t control the puck and it slid wide.

With 2:01 remaining in the frame, Callaghan made a big glove save on Dylan Jones’ quick wrist shot from the slot to keep the game 3-1 going into the third.

With 50 seconds gone in the final period, Callaghan again came up big on an Avalanche power play, as he denied Jeremiah Dargis’ fierce wrister from the low in the left circle.

After dodging those bullets and getting back to even strength, the Tornado turned up the pressure and controlled the third period the rest of the way, as their own relentless attack forced Alaska to take four consecutive penalties of their own. Texas outshot the Avalanche 19-8 in the final period.

Corey made impressive saves on Korostin’s blazing one-timer from the right circle on a power play 6:23 into the third, then Bengtson fired a quick wrister from the high slot, which Corey also turned aside.

Overall on the night, Corey played very well, making 34 saves and keeping his team in the game most of the night.
“He played a lot better,” Alaska coach Jamie Smith said of Corey, compared to Sidor the night before. “Our goaltending last night was pretty poor, and when you’re on the road - and this is our 16th day on the road - if you’re going to dig out of the hole, you need solid goaltending, so Nathan Corey played good tonight.”

The Tornado kept pressing and took a 4-1 lead with their second power play tally of the night, as Blazek connected with 8:25 remaining. After Corey stopped Bullis’ long slap shot, the rebound bounced out to Blazek in the slot, and he blasted it home for his third goal in the last two games and sixth of the season.

“I was a little bit worried there, we were flirting with danger there when we were up 3-1 and took a couple of penalties in a row,,” Coach Mullins said. “A bad bounce here or there and you’re in a one-goal hockey game. The fourth goal was huge for us and it came at a great time. I think our power play continues to do really good things. At times, maybe we’re not getting the result, tonight we did. We’re doing a lot of good things with it.”

The Tornado then sealed the victory with 2:33 to go as Bullis put home his third goal of the season on a fantastic individual effort. After Van Lare won a battle for the puck behind the Alaska net and fed Bullis low in the left circle, Bullis ripped a quick wrist shot that Corey made a nice pad save on. Bullis then retrieved his own rebound, charged across the slot with it, spun and fired a wrist shot over Corey’s shoulder.

“We’re dealing with a young team, we’ve got 12 ‘89s on our team and five ‘87s, it’s been a tough road for these young guys,” Coach Smith said of his Avalanche. “When you get a lead and then you relinquish it, then mentally, you’ve got to try to dig them out of that. It’s difficult. We did a good job early in the season of getting leads and holding them and finishing games. Teams like this that have a lot of talent, they’ve loaded up since the last time we played them. Our guys, it’s a counseling session, I promise you that. We’re having a counseling session on a nightly basis on this road trip.”

Like the night before, the Avalanche got on the scoreboard first, as Detlefsen connected for his team-leading 17th goal of the season just 4:59 into the contest. Tommy Engseth took the puck out of the left corner, but Callaghan denied his stuff attempt. The rebound squirted out front, where a charging Detlefsen snapped a quick shot over Callaghan’s shoulder for the 1-0 lead.

“He’s the leading defensive scorer in the league, too, so he’s a 20-year-old that kinds of leads us,” Smith said of Detlefsen. “He played well, he plays well every night, and that kind of hurt us last night - he was a last minute scratch for us. We expect a lot of things out of him.”

The Avalanche then had several opportunities to extend their lead as the Tornado were whistled for three straight penalties that put Alaska on the power play for almost five consecutive minutes, including two 5-on-3 advantages for 39 and then 42 seconds, respectively.

Texas’ penalty killing was outstanding and even though the Avalanche spent much of that time in the Tornado’s zone, they didn’t generate a whole lot of scoring chances, with the best coming on Young’s scorching one-timer from the left circle with 10:26 left in the opening period, but Callaghan made the stop. Overall on the night, the Tornado PK unit was 8-for-8.

“I think that leading up to the goal (against), there was a consistent pressure from three or four consecutive shifts and we turned the puck over in a bad area, it was just one of those timing things,” Coach Mullins said. “But the way that we came out and the way that we sustained that pressure, we make up for that. I think a turning point in the hockey game was killing off those 5-on-3s. I thought that really kept us going, kept us moving, it could have been a difference and we kind of built on that.”

Indeed, the Tornado seemed to gain the momentum from the big kills, leading to Goodwin’s equalizer with 4:59 left in the period. After Roadhouse stole the puck at center ice and sped into the Alaska zone, Goodwin turned on the jets and joined him on a 2-on-1 rush. Roadhouse dished him a nice pass and Goodwin unleashed a shot just inside the right post for his second goal in as many nights and his 11th of the year.

Energized by the goal, the Tornado continued to buzz in the Alaska zone and ended up going on a 5-on-3 power play of their own - for a full 1:49 - after Sean Ranum was called for slashing with 4:14 remaining.

Corey made a big save on Korostin’s one-timer from the right circle one minute later, but Bengtson came through with the eventual game-winner with 2:33 to go in the first, as he tapped a nice cross-crease feed from Roadhouse into an open net while camped out at the right post. It was Bengtson’s third goal in two games and ninth of the year.

So now the Tornado have a chance to leapfrog the Avalanche and seize that last playoff spot in the South Division with a victory Saturday night at the DejaBlue Arena (7:30pm start - watch or listen to Tommy Daniels and myself with the broadcast on b2 networks). After overcoming such a large deficit in such a short period of time, it just shows how effective the Tornado’s approach of taking it ‘one game at a time’ has been.

“It just comes down to competing and respecting your opposition,” Mullins said. “They’re going to come out and they’re going to really push and challenge, but we’ve been through a lot of things the last opportunity we had to be in this position. We have not been one point out of the playoffs since early September. We’ve waited a long time and we’ve gone through a lot of things together as a group and it’s here with a good effort. That’s my focus for tomorrow.”

THREE STARS

3. Gustav Bengtson, Texas (one goal, five shots on goal)
2. Matt Tennyson, Texas (one assist, seven shots on goal, excellent defense)
1. Sean Roadhouse, Texas (two assists)

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