’Hounds’ playoff hopes take a hit in 5-1 setback

Youngstown’s hopes hinge on must-win games tonight and Sunday.

By TOM WILLIAMS

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — Score round one of the SteelHounds’ crucial weekend series with the RiverKings to visitors from Mississippi.

Although the SteelHounds won the late-game fisticuffs (credit Milan Maslonka, Joel Irving and Chris Richards), the RiverKings beat goaltender Andy Franck three times on third-period 4-on-4 situations in Friday’s 5-1 slugfest at the Chevrolet Centre.

The victory elevates the RiverKings (26-14-2, 54 points) into a tie with the SteelHounds (26-16-2, 54) for second place in the Northeast Division. However, the RiverKings have two games in hand, making the games tonight and Sunday afternoon must-wins for the SteelHounds’ playoff hopes.

“The one good thing tonight is that at least we showed some emotion,” said SteelHounds coach Kevin Kaminski, referring to the 12 penalties assessed to both teams in the final 6:28.

“But in saying that, you’ve got your goals scorers Irving and Richards doing it and other guys not,” Kaminski said. “Something’s not right there.

“When you’ve got guys going after your top scorers, there better be [other] guys jumping in,” Kaminski said. “There wasn’t tonight — I’m not very happy about that.”

Maslonka’s third goal of the season gave the SteelHounds a first-period lead. Sixty-eight seconds after RiverKIngs defenseman Zach Pearson was whistled for high sticking, the SteelHounds capitalized.

Richards carried the puck deep into the Mississippi zone then made a nifty drop pass in the faceoff circle that Maslonka fired past goalie Ian Keserich.

But in the first part of the second period, the RiverKings took charge, outshooting the SteelHounds, 9-2. Two of those shots — by Sheldon Wenzel and Ryan Held — beat Franck for a 2-1 lead.

The first goal came after Steve Makway stole the puck at the SteelHounds blue line and fed Wenzel for a short breakaway.

A few minutes later, Held’s tipped Peter Kennedy’s shot from the point for the lead.

“We lost the one-on-one battles,” Kaminski said. “You can’t leave a guy standing around the net; you have to knock him down, do something.”

The SteelHounds responded by taking the next 17 shots. Keserich stopped them all.

As the second period wound down, Richards was assessed a tripping penalty. Despite the clean ice, the RiverKings couldn’t muster a shot during the first two minutes of the final frame.

But midway through the third period with each team short a man, Chad Woollard and Rick Kozak scored within 46 seconds for a 4-1 lead.

“The hockey gods were with us in that situation,” said RiverKings coach Kevin McClelland, a former Pittsburgh Penguin who won four Stanley Cup championships with the Edmonton Oilers.

Maslonka and Wenzel launched the late-game fisticuffs when they dropped the gloves, circled for about 10 seconds and unleashed their arms.

Later, Irving decked Darrell Stoddard to the ice, earning a game misconduct for being the fight aggressor. When Stoddard was down, Derek Landmesser broke free of Richards to assist his fallen teammate and was tossed.

“Emotions ran wild,” McClelland said. “It’s going to be a hard battle here the next two days. Sometime emotions take over. Every win in the Northern Conference right now is so critical.

“You’ve got to make sure that you keep climbing the ladder because there are a lot of teams playing well,” McClelland said. “It’s possible a couple of real good teams won’t make the playoffs.”

williams@vindy.com