Knight Monsters In, Bison Out Of Playoff Picture

The playoff fate of the ECHL’s two newest expansion teams was decided Wednesday night, with two different outcomes.

Like their parent club, the Vegas Golden Knights, the Tahoe Knight Monsters officially punched their ticket to the post-season in their first year.

Tahoe got in despite losing 6-5 in a shootout against the Wichita Thunder. That one point proved crucial, however, along with the Idaho Steelheads’ loss to Kansas City, for the Knight Monsters to get in.

Tahoe found themselves down 5-4 with 4.6 seconds left in regulation, but Nate Kallen managed to get a slap shot past layers of traffic and into the back of the net to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Tahoe goalie Jesper Vikman made two crucial saves in overtime as the contest headed to the skills competition. Wichita’s Michal Stinil tallied the lone goal to preserve a Thunder victory, but the celebration was on at Tahoe Blue Event Center for what could be an intriguing playoff run for the Knight Monsters.

There will be no such celebration for the Bloomington Bison, who not only suffered a 5-1 loss on the road to the Indy Fuel but saw their playoff hopes dashed in the process.

The Fuel pounced with two goals in the first period and took a 3-0 lead into the second intermission. After the lead increased to 4-0 in the third period, Patriks Marcinkevics broke Indy’s shutout bid, but that was all the Bison could muster as the Fuel dominated on the scoreboard and in shots on goal by a 32-17 margin.

The game had been originally slated for Feb. 25 but had to be rescheduled for Wednesday, and it turned out to have major playoff implications.

Other takeaways from Wednesday night’s action:

A Memorable Night In Rapid City

In the Rush’s 3-2 victory over the Utah Grizzlies at The Monument Ice Arena, Ryan Wagner needed three assists to pass Alex Aleardi for the club’s ECHL-era single-season assists record.

When the night was over, Wagner had notched three apples to grab the record. All three of his helpers were primaries and came in the first two periods.

The Rush captain now has 49 for the season and is just three points away from surpassing Aleardi in another team category: the single-season points record. He could become the first ECHL-era 80-point scorer in Rush history.

No pressure, right?

Poulsen Earns First Career Hatty

In the Tulsa Oilers’ largest win of the season, an 8-1 thrashing of the Allen Americans, Tyler Poulsen notched his first career hat trick. It was also the Oilers’ first hatty this season.

Poulsen netted his first goal 6:27 into the game off a shot from the slot for a 1-0 Tulsa lead. He lit the lamp a second time 54 seconds into the middle frame on a breakaway to put the Oilers ahead 4-0.

Poulsen earned his hat trick on Tulsa’s sixth goal, tucking a backhander off a two-on-zero break past a sprawling Americans goalie for a 6-0 lead.

Another Blades Comeback

Nothing about the Florida Everblades should surprise us anymore; after all, they are the three-time defending Kelly Cup Champions.

Florida engineered a comeback by scoring two goals in less than a minute late in the second period to overtake the Atlanta Gladiators 5-2 in Estero.

Logan Lambdin notched a hat trick of his own to get the Blades back in the game and complete the victory. His second goal gave Florida its first lead of the game.

Lambdin now has two hatties for the season, the other coming on Nov. 9 in a 4-1 win over the Orlando Solar Bears. The Everblades are 5-0-0 against Atlanta this season.