See Mike Marianchuk’s game-tying goal here
Hear Gord Thibodeau’s post-game comments here
Hear first star Mike Marianchuk’s post-game comments here
MYTISCHY, RUSSIA – The Fort McMurray Oil Barons are 1-0 in international play.
Newly acquired forward Mike Marianchuk scored two goals, including the game-tying and game-winning markers, and new goaltedner Brody Hoffman made multiple highlight reel saves, as the Barons came back from a 2-1 third period deficit to take their first game 4-2 over Atlants Moscow.
“I think we had good energy all night,” said Head Coach Gord Thibodeau, “a little slow moving the puck at times, but overall for the first effort it wasn’t bad. It’s definitely something to build on.”
After a scoreless first period, barons captain Carson Cooper became the first player in Fort McMurray history to score on foreign soil with his first period power-play goal.
But the Russians were soon to respond with two goals only seconds apart. After two spectacular saves by Hoffman, Moscow forward Alexander Kadeykin was left unmarked in the slot to fire home the third-chance opportunity and tie the game.
Moments later, Stanislav Golzonov fired a blind turnaround shot from an obtuse angle that took a deflection between Hoffman’s pads to give Atlants a 2-1 lead.
The third period belonged to Fort McMurray, however, and especially to Marianchuk.
The former Drumheller Dragon scored two powerplay goals; the first off the crossbar and in off of a centering pass from Jamie Johnson, and the second on a rebound after a Brock Maschmeyer point shot went off the end boards and back in front of the net.
“It was just really nice to finally put the puck back in the net after not the best season I had last year,” said Marianchuk.
“It’s great to get that confidence back.”
Dylan Seymour sealed the deal with an empty net goal with one second left on the clock.
The Barons’ attention now turns to the Red Army team that they will play at 5pm Moscow time (7 AM in Fort McMurray) on Saturday.
“We expect to get better every game, so we’ll focus on working some kinks out,” said Thibodeau.
“We know that we still have a lot of work to do,” Marianchuk added.
