Independence, MO — The Kansas City Mavericks stormed back into the Western Conference Final with a 5-2 victory over the Toledo Walleye on Tuesday night in Game 3 at Huntington Center. The Mavericks now trail the best-of-seven series 2-1, with a chance to even things up on Thursday night.
Kansas City’s special teams took over, going 3-for-7 on the power play and 5-for-6 on the penalty kill, controlling the tempo and capitalizing in crucial moments.
The Mavericks opened the scoring late in the first period when Casey Carreau buried a rebound on the power play with 23 seconds remaining, giving Kansas City a 1-0 lead at the break.
Early in the second, Luke Loheit stickhandled into the right faceoff circle and sniped a high-glove shot to extend the lead to 2-0. At 15:01, Cam Morrison made it 3-0 by finishing off a net-front scramble for his fifth of the postseason.
In the third period, Landon McCallum sliced through the defense and beat Jan Bednar with a slick backhander at 5:30 to make it 4-0. Toledo finally broke through in the third period with a goal from Billy Moskal at 9:30 and made it 4-1. Max Andreev added the final blow at 13:19, snapping a wrister in tight to secure a 5-1 lead. Carson Bantle added a late goal for the Walleye at 17:12, but Kansas City stayed in control.
Jack LaFontaine was solid once again in net, turning away 33 of 35 shots to record his seventh win of the postseason.
The Mavericks return to action in Game 4 on Thursday, May 23 at 6:15 PM CT in Toledo as they look to even the series.
If necessary, the series shifts back to Cable Dahmer Arena for:
• Game 6: Monday, May 26
• Game 7: Wednesday, May 28
Tickets for potential home games are available now at kcmavericks.com/tickets or by calling 816-252-7825.
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