Quad City splits midweek home-and-home series with IceMen to wrap up 2015.)

  

Records:  Evansville: 12-15-2-0; Quad City: 16-13-1-2

Goalies:   QC – Michalek (W), 9-6-1-2, 32 saves

 EVN – Zenzola (L), 2-2-0-0, 23 saves

Scoring:

1^st Period: 1. QC – Collins 2 (Coldwell, Nikiforov, 7:16); 2. QC – Carey 4 (PP, Coldwell, Brassart, 18:00)

2^nd Period:  3. EVN – Wideman 5 (Trebish, 2:17); 4. EVN – Guptill 7 (Dunn, Leveille, 6:22); 5. EVN – Dunn 5 (Guptill, Rumble, 7:44); 6. QC – Tesink 3 (Coldwell, Archambault, 10:45); 7. Nikiforov 4 (Monfredo, 14:17)

3^rd Period:  8. QC – Brassart 1 (Nikiforov, Gudbranson, 11:20); 9. QC – Carey 5 (EN, unassisted, 17:58); 10. EVN – Duco 4 (Rumble, 18:11)

EVANSVILLE, IN – The Evansville IceMen finished off 2015 with their first winning month since October 2014. However, New Years Eve belonged to the Quad City Mallards, who defeated the IceMen 6-4 Thursday in front of 7,688 fans at the Ford Center. The IceMen finished December with a 6-5-2 record.

Quad City notched the game’s first goal, when Anthony Collins finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play at 7:16 on a deflection over IceMen goalie Matt Zenzola. The Mallards received three power plays in the first period and converted on the third one. Matt Carey picked up a loose puck from a blocked shot and buried the rebound into a wide open net to give Quad City a 2-0 lead.

The IceMen outshot the Mallards 14-12 in the first period, but trailed by a pair of goals. Evansville was penalized eight times for 27 minutes in the frame.

A flurry of three goals in the first eight minutes of the second period sprung the IceMen into the lead. Alex Wideman ripped a wrist shot past the glove of Quad City goalie Steve Michalek 2:17 into the period. Alex Guptill then feathered a backhander off of Michalek and into the net to tie the game. 1:22 after the goal, Guptill set up Vincent Dunn for a one-timer from the right circle to put the IceMen in front 3-2.

Later in the stanza, the Mallards tied the score when Ryan Tesink deflected an Austin Coldwell point shot past Zenzola at 10:45. It was Coldwell’s third assist of the night. Quad City jumped back in front at 14:17 of the period, when Vladimir Nikiforov snuck behind the Evansville defense and snapped a shot into the net from the right circle.

The Mallards opened their lead to two goals when Brady Brassart scored his first ECHL goal on a centering pass to the edge of the crease at 11:20. An empty net goal by Carey put the game out of reach with just over two minutes left.

Mike Duco provided a garbage-time goal for the IceMen, but it was too little, too late. The Mallards snapped out of a four-game skid, and prevented Evansville from its first three-game winning streak. Michalek made 32 saves in the win, while Zenzola stopped 23 shots in the loss.

The IceMen next host Missouri Saturday, January 2 at 7:15pm to begin 2016. Evansville then welcomes Wichita Sunday, January 3 at 5:15pm to wrap up four games in five days.