Cottonmouths break through with home win

It took five tries, but the Columbus Cottonmouths finally tasted home victory Tuesday night escaping with a 6-4 win over Knoxville, their second win over the Ice Bears in as many games.

Backed by three first period goals, the Columbus offensive onslaught was so stout that Knoxville starting goalie Braely Torris was pulled after facing only 10 shots in just 19 minutes of play.  In relief, back-up netminder Bryan Hince didn’t fare much better letting in three goals on 20 shots.

Andy Willigar scored the game’s opening goal followed up by the first of two goals on the night by Tyler Henry.  It was the eighth time in 11 games Columbus scored the game’s opening goal, a streak that now includes five straight.

“We did a good job of keeping our foot on the gas pedal, getting that 2-0 cushion was huge, especially at home,” Tyler Henry said.  “Our fore check was great tonight as well as our D-zone was good too, so it’s always nice to have that two-goal lead early.”

Picking up where it left off in the first, Columbus scored two more goals in the second beginning with a beautiful back-handed wrist shot by newcomer John Jackson.

Facing 5-2 deficit at the start of the third, Knoxville managed to cut the three-goal differential down to one when Trever Hertz and Luc Kilgore scored goals within a minute of each other.

“A goal right off the face off again, Bates was trying to go forward with it and missed it,” Columbus coach Jerome Berchard said.  “In that stretch there were some little things that we tried to do too much.”

Columbus fired back with a score from Tyler Henry, his second of the night, halting the Ice Bear comeback.

The Cottonmouths' six goals were the most goals scored in a single game this season -- their previous high was four.  Starting goalie Brandon Jaeger got his third straight win blocking 48 shots on 52 attempts.

In other team news, both Chris Rial and Adam Chapman were placed on 30-day IR.  Coming into the night tied for the team lead in goals, Rial hurt his knee in last Friday’s game against Fayetteville while Chapman sustained a concussion in Saturday’s road win over Knoxville.

The team re-signed veteran Levi Lind. In 304 career games with the Snakes, Lind amassed 164 points scoring 56 goals in that time period.

“With my young team, I think everybody is in a hurry to go somewhere and Levi Lind comes in who hasn’t been on the ice in six months and the pace of his game is a little slower which was little different for some of the younger guys,” says Bechard.

Columbus returns to action this Friday night when it hosts the Louisiana Ice Gators (4-4-2).

Tuesday at Columbus Civic Center

Knoxville 1 1 2--4

Columbus 3 2 1--6

First period--1, Columbus, Willigar (Simchuk) 4:29; 2, Columbus, Henry (Belisle, Brodie) 9:28; 3, Knoxville, Power (Hertz, Hale) 13:27; 4, Columbus, Belisle (Johnson) 14:34; Penalties--Bonazza, Knoxville (Tripping) 14:57.

Second period--5, Columbus, Jackson (Bates) 4:49; 6, Knoxville, Sicard (Peppler) 5:34; 7, PP-Columbus, Bates (Jackson) 13:38; Penalties--Shapiro, Columbus (Hooking) 13:10; Hosmer, Knoxville (Delay of Game) 13:55.

Third period-8, Knoxville, Hertz (Reid) 7:26; 9, Knoxville, Kilgore (Cousineau, Sicard) 8:44; 10, Columbus, Henry (Belisle, Bathgate) 9:59; Penalties--Willigar, Columbus (Hooking) 14:20; Fulton, Knoxville (Fighting-Major) 16:25; Willigar, Columbus (Elbowing) 16:25; Hertz, Knoxville (Cross Checking) 16:25; Fulton, Knoxville (Fighting-Game Misconduct) 16:25; Pawlowski, Knoxville (Verbal Abuse-Misconduct) 16:25.

Shots on goal: Knoxville 23-13-16; Columbus 13-14-6

Power plays: Knoxville 0 of 2; Columbus 1 of 3

Goaltenders: Knoxville, Torris 19:34 10 0 0; Hince (Loss) 40:26 0 12 5. Columbus, Jaeger (win) 60:00 22 12 14.

Referee: Fernandez. Linesman: Bisbee, Kuerston

Time: 2:24

Attendance: 1,684

This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 12:26 AM with the headline "Cottonmouths break through with home win."