'Cats Set New Franchise SOG Record, Edge Dashers 5-3

WYTHEVILLE, VA

The Blue Ridge Bobcats shattered their franchise record for shots on goal with a whopping 76 on the night, and were able to push 5 of them past Parker Rutherford and outlast the Dashers for a 5-3 win before a crowd of 1,361 at Hitachi Energy Arena.

The 76 SOG still fell short of the FPHL record, but surpassed the NHL single-game record of 71, ironically the number of saves made by Rutherford in a losing effort.

The Dashers proved early on and continued to show throughout the night that their record did not indicate the type of team they are and that they were not to be taken lightly. Former Bobcat Lucas Rothe and Yosuke Jumonji each scored in the first 4:08 of the penultimate contest of the regular season to vault the Dashers to an early 2-0 lead.

A slow-starting Bobcats offense quickly got to work, with Milan Brezcko converting to cut the lead in half with his second professional goal 3:26 after Jumonji. Hunter Godmere sped down the near side wing, drove the net, waited on Rutherford to go for the poke check and then found Breczko by himself on the backdoor for the tap in to make it 2-1 after one.

Carson Andreoli put home his first of two on the night to begin the scoring in the second, corralling a deflected shot and banking it off the skate of a defender and into the net nearly 9 minutes into the middle frame to tie the game at 2. Filip Hlavac followed at the 11:33 mark of the middle frame, one-timing home the final piece of a beautiful tic-tac-toe setup from Justin Daly and Mike Mercurio to give Blue Ridge their first lead of the night, 3-2.

The Dashers answered 6:06 later in the form of another former Bobcat, TJ Prexler, who roofed home a great setup from Zach Slinger to tie the game back at 3 entering period three.

The difference was a pair of Bobcats goals 5:13 apart in the final frame. Nick McHugh rifled a rocket off Rutherford's pad, and the rebound was sniped home by Mercurio for what served as the game winning goal to make it 4-3 Bobcats at the 7:44 mark of the third. Brandon Reller then beautifully set up Andreoli on a cross crease feed to seal the deal the 13:58 mark of the third.

Connor Green picked up the win between the pipes, stopping 31 of 34 Dashers shots. Nick Stuckless picked up third star honors for his pair of assists on the evening, while Mercurio took home second star honors for his 1 goal/1 assist outing. Andreoli earned first star honors for his 2-goal game.

With the win, the Bobcats move one step closer to clinching home ice advantage for Tuesday's Continental Division Wild Card Play-In Game, needing another victory Saturday night to do so.

The two teams wrap up their respective regular season tomorrow night, with puck drop set for 7:30 and doors set to open at 6:30. Tickets are available by calling 276-335-2100 or visiting blueridgebobcats.com/tickets.