(Dunn scores twice including late tying goal, but Missouri prevails again in overtime.)
Records:Â Â Evansville: 18-24-6-1; Missouri: 41-6-2-1
Goalies:  MO – Milner (W), 14-3-0-0, 23 saves
              EVN – Bengtsberg (OTL), 6-9-4-1, 26 saves
Scoring:
1st Period: No Scoring
2nd Period: 1. EVN – Dunn 11 (Trebish, Himelson, :15); 2. MO – Root 24 (Sylvestre, Jones, 12:40); 3. EVN – Wideman 10 (Sims, 19:26)
3rd Period: 4. MO – Tolkinen 2 (Carzo, Johnston, 6:16); 5. MO – Root 25 (unassisted, 13:59); 6. EVN – Dunn 12 (Rutkowski, Himelson, 17:54)
Overtime: 7. MO – Sylvestre 14 (unassisted, 3:39)
INDEPENDENCE, MO – Three straight meetings between the Evansville IceMen and league-leading Missouri Mavericks needed overtime to determine a winner. Saturday at Silverstein Eye Centers Arena, the Mavericks overcame a third period deficit like they had January 2nd and 26th in overtime wins and beat the IceMen in the extra period 4-3.
Evansville outshot Missouri 7-4 in the opening period, but there was no scoring at the first intermission. The IceMen were 0-for-2 on the power play, but generated a few big scoring chances on Mavericks goalie Parker Milner.
Rookie forward Vincent Dunn put the IceMen on the board 15 seconds into the second period when he caught a pass at the Missouri blue line and spun around a Mavericks defenseman before sliding a shot through the legs of Milner. Missouri tied the score after killing off a penalty, when Jesse Root scored his league-leading 24th goal on a 2-on-1 rush at 12:40 of the frame.
The IceMen regained the lead late in the period, when Alex Wideman followed his own rebound and snuck a backhander over Milner’s left pad with 34 seconds left. Evansville led 2-1 after two, as goaltender Christoffer Bengtsberg stopped 11 of 12 Mavericks shots.
Right as a Missouri power play ended, the Mavericks tied the game at 2-2, when Zach Tolkinen blasted a one-timer past Bengtsberg on a pass across the slot from Rocco Carzo. Root then picked off an Evansville pass right in front of the IceMen net and scored his second goal of the night to put Missouri in front with just over six minutes to play.
Late in regulation, Troy Rutkowski set up Dunn for his second of the game when the rookie fired a shot past Milner from the top of the left circle with 2:06 to play. The teams headed to overtime in the third straight meeting. In the extra frame, Sebastien Sylvestre broke up a pass at center ice and beat Bengtsberg through the legs on a breakaway with 1:21 left to win the game.
Sunday’s rematch is scheduled for 4:05pm and will be broadcast on www.evansvilleicemen.com and ECHL TV. Fans can also watch the game at Bar Louie in Evansville, the official headquarters for IceMen away games.
