Cottonmouths holds off RiverKings' rally in third period

The Columbus Cottonmouths held off a furious third-period rally by the Mississippi RiverKings to earn a 5-4 victory Friday night at the Columbus Civic Center, giving the Snakes their fifth straight win.

Will Aide shouldered a good amount of the offensive load for Columbus, scoring a goal and handing out two assists as the Snakes' "Green Line" of Aide, Craig Simchuk and Patrick McCadden continued their recent surge of production. The trio had two goals, four assists and were a plus-3 total against the RiverKings.

"We're just working hard and being simple," Aide said. "There's a good connection between all three of us. It's not just about me, it's about all of us on the team."

The Snakes gave up a season-high 52 shots -- including 23 in the third period -- but Shannon Szabados stood tall in goal, stopping 48 of them to earn her fourth straight victory and run her record to 11-8-1 with a 3.20 goals against average and .908 save percentage.

"Shannon gave up four goals, but she played great," Columbus coach Jerome Bechard said. "They got goals on some odd-man rushes and they have some sharpshooters over there. She made all the saves she should've made tonight."

Columbus (26-15-2) got off to a slow start, but got its first goal at 7:19 on a power-play tally by Shawn Bates. The goal was Bates'

third in his last five games and Mike Switzer's assist on the play extended his point-scoring streak to three straight games.

Just 20 seconds after Bates' goal, Simchuk -- the Snakes' leading point-getter in the last five games -- stole the puck, split two defenders and beat Mississippi goalie Adam Courchaine to give the Snakes a 2-0 lead. Simchuk now has four goals and five assists in his last five games for Columbus.

The RiverKings -- who has a nine-game winning streak stopped Thursday night with a 3-0 loss at Louisiana -- had a chance to cut it to 2-1 when Matt Whitehead was awarded a penalty shot with 6:43 to go in the first period, but his goal was disallowed by referee Dre Barone, keeping it 2-0 Snakes.

The Snakes struck again before the end of the first period when Simchuk found Aide between the circles and he snapped a shot past Courchaine to give Columbus a 3-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes. After getting just one goal and one assist in his first 24 games this season, Aide now has two goals and three assists in his last five games for the Snakes.

Meanwhile, Szabados made 14 stops in the first period to help the Snakes establish the lead.

Whitehead scored 3:23 into the second period to get the RiverKings (25-17-2) back to within 2-1, but three minutes later, Louis Belisle netted a goal off an assist from Aide to re-establish the Snakes' three goal lead at 4-1.

The RiverKings struck again when Ryan Marcuz tipped a shot past Szabados to get Mississippi within 4-2 midway through the second period, but Columbus responded again. This time, newcomer Ben O'Quinn -- signed by the Snakes Friday to a three-game tryout deal -- got a pass from Aide and snapped a shot past Courchaine to give Columbus a 5-2 lead after two periods.

Along with Aide's goal and two assists, Simchuk had a goal and an assist for the Snakes, who remain tied for third in the Southern Professional Hockey League standings with Pensacola (24-14-6) with 54 points. The pair are only one point back of second-place Knoxville (26-16-3) and two points ahead of fifth-place Mississippi.

Columbus is at home again Saturday night, hosting the Louisiana IceGators in the fourth of a seven-game homestand.

Faceoff at the Civic Center is set for 7:30 p.m.

Friday at The Columbus Civic Center

Mississippi 0 2 2--4

Columbus 3 2 0--5

First Period--1, Bates, Col (pp) (Switzer), 7:19. 2, Simchuk, Col, 7:39. 3, Aide, Col (Simchuk, McCadden), 17:31. Penalties--Marcuz, Miss (slashing), 6:23; Switzer, Col (tripping), 9:36; Gingera, Col (slashing), 18:48; Hayward, Miss (cross checking), 18:48; Ciarelli, Miss (hooking), 19:37.

Second Period--4, Whitehead, Miss (Bahm), 3:23. 5, Belisle, Col (Aide), 6:21. 6, Marcuz, Miss (Hayward, Leivermann), 9:17. 7, O'Quinn, Col (Aide, Bates), 13:29. Penalties--Aide, Col (high sticking), 7:00; Sobotka, Miss (hooking), 10:32; Johnson, Col (boarding), 15:35.

Third Period--8, Campbell, Miss (Mantha, Jones), 6:21. 9, Marcuz, Miss (Leivermann), 7:56. Penalties--Willigar, Col (slashing), 3:15; Willigar, Col misconduct (inciting opponent), 3:15; Jones, Miss (slashing), 3:15; Thomas, Miss (slashing), 14:15.

Shots on Goal--Mississippi 14-15-23--52. Columbus 15-13-9--37.

Power-play opportunities--Mississippi 0 of 3; Columbus 1 of 5.

Goalies--Mississippi, Courchaine 10-12-2 (37 shots-32 saves). Columbus, Szabados 11-8-1 (52-48).

A--2,132. T--2:24.

Referee--Dre Barone. Linesmen--Brent Hooks, Ross Crimaldi.