ALEXANDRIA, MN – The Bismarck Bobcats won their seventh straight game on the power of a late shorthanded goal from forward Nick Jensen by a margin of 2-1 over the Alexandria Blizzard Friday at the Runestone Center.
It is the fourth straight game between the Bobcats and Blizzard to end as a 2-1 victory for the Bobcats.
Alexandria was in early control of the contest, outshooting the ‘Cats by a margin of 9-1 through the first 11 minutes of the first period before visitors held off the early Blizzard surge and opened the scoring themselves with 1:30 remaining in the opening frame on Casey Kleisinger’s eighth goal of the year.
Brett Bower and Gavin Hartzog assisted on the play.
The Blizzard pulled even in the second on the power play when forward Tommy Westmark tallied his second goal of the weekend, twisting a shot past Bobcat goalie Ryan Faragher from his stomach five minutes into the second.
The two teams deadlocked for the next 24 minutes of hockey before Jensen provided the heroics for the Bobcats, taking a long pass from Jason Fabian into the Alexandria zone and lining a hard wrister over goaltender Chris Kamal for the 2-1 edge.
Jensen’s marker was the Bobcats’ first shorthanded goal of 2009-10.
Faragher got some big help from a strong Bobcat defensive attack in the closing minutes to make the 2-1 lead stand up.
The Fort Frances, Ont., native made 25 saves to improve to 8-3-4 on the year.
Kamal—4-1-2 against the rest of the NAHL—suffered his fourth straight loss to the Bobcats, making 26 saves in defeat.
With the win, the Bobcats (14-7-5, 33 pts) maintain their four-point lead for first place in the Central Division over the Owatonna Express (14-6-1, 29 pts); the Express topped North Iowa 3-1 Friday.
The Bobcats wrap up their three-games-in-three-nights weekend with a 7:30 contest at the North Iowa Ice Arena against the third-place North Iowa Outlaws on Saturday.
The game will be broadcast locally on the radio home of Bobcat Hockey, Super Talk 1270, KLXX-AM, and worldwide at BismarckBobcats.com via B2 Networks. The pre-game show starts at 7:00 PM.
You won\’t want to miss any of the games this season, so order your Season Tickets, Family Packs and Group Nights today by calling the Bobcat Hockey Office at 701-222-3300 or by e-mailing the office for more information at gobobcathockey@aol.com.
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