After sweeping the Wichita Thunder in the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs, the Tahoe Knight Monsters found the start of the Mountain Division Finals a bit more challenging.
The Kansas City Mavericks brought Tahoe’s unbeaten post-season to an end Sunday evening with a 5-3 victory in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series.
Sloan Stanick, Simon Pinard and Jett Jones all scored power-play goals, but it wasn’t enough against a determined KC squad that was looking to get back to the Kelly Cup Finals for the second straight year.
The opening frame was scoreless, although Kansas City outshot Tahoe 23-12 with stellar goaltending by Jesper Vikman and Jack LaFontaine on both ends of the ice. Both teams carded multiple high-danger scoring chances in the period.
The Knight Monsters broke the ice on the power play with Stanick netting his first professional playoff goal. The second period was all Tahoe as they outshot Kansas City 13-6.
The offensive prowess of both teams finally showed up in the third period. A total of seven goals were scored in the frame. Tahoe scored two more power-play goals, with Pinard and Jones finding the back of the net. Pinard now has a five-game point streak this post-season, totaling seven points in that span.
It wasn’t enough though, as Kansas City scored all five of their goals in the final frame, giving themselves a 5-3 victory to end Game 1 of the second round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs. It was the most shots allowed by an opposing team for Tahoe, as the Mavericks fired 48 on Vikman and consistently dominated the offensive zone.
Despite the four goals he allowed, Vikman still wound up with a .915 save percentage after stopping 43 shots.
Game 2 is Monday night at Cable Dahmer Arena, with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 Pm CT.