BISMARCK, ND–An explosion of offense broke the Bobcats out of their scoring slump in a dominating 6-1 win over the Minot Minotauros Friday night at the VFW Sports Center in Bismarck.
Nate Repensky (Duluth, MN) assisted on three straight tallies within the final 5:35 of the second period, blowing open a 1-0 Bobcat lead and leaving memories of a lethargic weekend in Austin behind, where Bismarck failed to score in two straight games.
"I think we sent a message tonight," remarked Bobcat head coach Layne Sedevie. "If you’re going to score goals, you have to get to the gritty areas, and we did that tonight. You love the pretty goals, but tonight we paid the price in the gritty area.
Indeed, the Bobcats worked the house for significant scores. Tommy Malkmus (Bismarck, ND) scored his first of the season on a top-shelf effort driving hard to the slot at 14:25 of the second, a goal that started the barrage. Dan Kovar (Bismarck, ND) then sent a shot through bodies at 17:05, taking the lead to three. Filip Starzynski (Warsaw, Poland) finished the period with a swift skate past a defender at 18:27, sending the Bismarck crowd to a roar and the Bobcats to a 4-0 edge after two.
Evan Giesler (Naperville, IL) answered Minot’s lone goal of the night by working low and smacking a rebound past Minot netminder Merrick Madsen at 10:44 of the third, and Seth Blair (Bismarck, ND) completed the night with a blast outside the left circle in the Minot zone after evading a defender at 14:05 of the third for the 6-1 rout.
In all, Bismarck natives accounted for three goals and an assist, along with Aaron Nelson (Bismarck, ND) recording his 10th win of the season. The occasion wasn’t lost on Malkmus.
"I wanted my first goal to be in front of the home crowd. I didn’t want it to be on the road. It was awesome," Malkmus said.
Bismarck tries to take a four-point weekend from Minot with the return half of the home-and-home Saturday, with faceoff scheduled for 7:35 p.m. at Maysa Arena in Minot. Pregame coverage will begin at 7:10 p.m. on Supertalk 1270 KLXX.