Taulien: Good synergy is key
The Columbus Cottonmouths found offense from their entire roster during their three-game winning streak last week, scoring 15 goals in three games, more than double their 2.44 goals per game average during the season.
On Friday night, the Snakes had their winning streak snapped at home at the hands of the league-leading Huntsville Havoc by a 4-3 margin.
The three goals the Cottonmouths scored in the game, however, equaled their goal output against Huntsville in the other four games against the Havoc this season combined.
The “green line” of Evan Neugold, Alexander Taulien, and Derek Gingera stepped up on Friday night, contributing to two of the three goals in the game. Neugold and Taulien scored one each, while Gingera logged assists on both.
Rookie forward Keegan Bruce, who leads the team in goals, notched the other marker Friday.
“It starts with a lot of hard work from my other two linemates,” Taulien said after Friday’s game. “Defensively, we get a good first pass out of the zone. It’s a pretty big deal to get a good first pass out of the zone. It sets us up for a good chance in their zone. It’s been rolling the last few games.”
Taulien says a good synergy with his two linemates is key.
“There’s a lot of communication,” he said. “We seem to know where each other is. We seem to feed off each other. Little things we talk about here and there on the bench, things we could do better, different plays we could have made. Overall, I think it’s successful having two good linemates who aren’t selfish by any means at moving the puck. It’s the tic-tac-toe plays that catch the other team off guard.”
“They’ve been pretty consistent as far as their play,” said Columbus head coach Jerome Bechard. “They get in the forecheck and always seem to get a stick on the puck and a body on somebody. Once they get into that offensive zone cycle, they’re pretty tough to handle. Goldie and Taulien are two pretty big boys who can skate and hold off some guys, and they’re both talented enough to create some plays.”
Meanwhile, Bechard lamented the loss on Friday to the Havoc, snapping the Snakes’ win streak.
“There’s a difference between patience and not moving your feet,” Bechard said. “Prior to (Friday), we were moving our feet at the right times, moving the puck at the right times, being patient with the plays that were developing. (Friday), we didn’t have the patience or what we needed to accomplish what we needed to. With our moxie in the third period to not give up and keep coming, we had a couple of good opportunities there.”
Heading into Sunday’s afternoon game against Fayetteville, the Cottonmouths have 22 regular season games remaining. They are in last place in the SPHL standings, seven points behind Roanoke, currently in the eighth and final playoff position.
“We kind of broke these last 25 games into five-game segments,” Bechard said. We need to win three or four out of five each one to be where we need to be.”
The Cottonmouths also acquired rookie goaltender Mavric Parks earlier in the week to fill the void left by Lukas Hafner, who was recalled to Colorado in the ECHL after just two games with the Snakes. Parks made his professional debut on Saturday night, dropping a 6-3 decision to the FireAntz. It was his first game action all season after wrapping up his collegiate career last year at the University of Prince Edward Island in the Canadian maritimes.
“I think both are very capable,” Bechard said of his goaltending tandem of Parks and Spencer Bacon. “Spencer had a good night (Friday); none of the goals scored were on him, they were on the five in front of him not playing very strong. Mavric comes from a five-year OHL career with really good numbers and five years in Prince Edward Island that’s really good hockey. He’s a capable goalie. The biggest thing is that he hasn’t really played this year. He had a couple of good days of practice here and a couple of weeks of good practice in Knoxville.”
The Cottonmouths return home to face Evansville on Friday and a rematch with Huntsville on Saturday. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. both nights at the Civic Center.
This story was originally published February 12, 2017 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Taulien: Good synergy is key."