Szabados, McCadden lead Cottonmouths to win

Backed by stellar play in net by Shannon Szabados and a huge bounce of the puck in the third period, the Columbus Cottonmouths defeated the Fayetteville FireAntz 2-1 on Saturday night at the Columbus Civic Center.

Following two consecutive road losses, the Cottonmouths entered the night in a three-way tie for sixth place in the SPHL with a chance to move into sole possession with a win. Knoxville also won, so the Snakes are in a two-way tie. Fayetteville dropped into second place with the loss.

Snakes took the early lead on a beautiful opening goal by forward John Jackson in which he turned the defender around two times before putting the puck in the back of the basket for the 1-0 lead.

Playing their third game in as many nights, it took four minutes into the second period for Fayetteville to net a score. Nick Lazorko scored his team-leading 10th goal of the season knotting the score up at one.

Lazorko entered the night one-goal behind the league-leaders.

The two teams remained tied for the rest of the second and majority of the third. Fayetteville turned the puck over at center ice as the puck bounced away.

Columbus defenseman Kyle Shapiro took advantage and assisted Patrick McCadden for the eventual game-winner giving the Snakes the 2-1 victory.

"Third game this week and the guys on the bench emptied the tank and gave me everything they had," Snakes coach Jerome Bechard said. "It was a game we played hard enough to win and finally got the lucky break we needed at the end with McCadden's goal."

Blocking 35 of 36 shots, Szabados outdueled her counterpart, the reigning SPHL Player of the week, Parker Van Buskirk who stopped 28 shots on 30 attempts. Shannon earned her first home ice win and improved her record to 2-0-1 in her last three starts.

"First quarter of season was getting a little frustrating, we just needed to stick with it and we're now playing better," Szabados said. "It was an ugly win tonight, but I think we did all the little things we needed to do to get the win."

In roster news, goaltender Brandon Jaeger was loaned to the Orlando Solar Bears. In his stead, Cottonmouths signed Andrew Loewen to a three-day tryout. In 150 total games with the Snakes, Loewen amassed a career record of 84-54-7 between the pipes with his 1.74 GAA and .945 save percentage in 2012-13 which still stand as SPHL records for a goaltender in a single season. According to team reports, Jaeger's is expected to rejoin the team in a week or so.

Winners of three straight at home, the Cottonmouths return to home ice on Dec. 18th when they host the Peoria Rivermen in the first of back-to-back meetings set to take place next weekend.

Saturday at Columbus Civic Center

Fayetteville 0 1 0--1

Columbus 1 0 1--2

First period--1, Columbus, Jackson (Bates, Whitell) 7:02; Penalties--None.

Second period--2, Fayetteville, Lazorko (Tolles) 4:06; Penalties--Schneider, Fayetteville (Cross Checking) 8:09.

Third period--3, Columbus, McCadden (Shapiro) 15:15; Penalties--None

Shots on goal: Fayetteville 12-15-9; Columbus 10-10-10

Power plays: Fayetteville 0 of 0; Columbus 0 of 1

Goaltenders: Fayetteville, Van Buskirk (loss) 60:00 9 10 9. Columbus, Szababdos (win) 60:00 12 14 9

Referee: Fernandez. Linesman: Bisbee, Senger

Time: 2:12

Attendance: 2,437

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 11:01 PM with the headline "Szabados, McCadden lead Cottonmouths to win ."