Spiders playoff hopes dim, lose 5-3 to Taz Devils

Feb. 11, 2015

AHA games run 51 minutes – three 17 minute periods. All it took was 2 minutes late in the second period to doom the Spiders on Saturday.

The Taz Devils controlled play early in the first period before the Spiders came charging back. Matt Adelmann put the Spiders in the lead with his 6th of the year. After the Devils evened the score, Geoff Kuppe scored his team leading 10th goal to regain the lead. Only nine seconds later the Devils answered back and the period ended at 2-2. Despite the tied score the Spiders got the better of the action, outshooting the Taz Devils 13-10.

The Taz Devils young legs started to gain momentum in the second, reaching a crescendo in the final minutes of the period. Goals with 3:27, 1:54, and 1:37 left broke the game open. A Cody Buckalew goal midway through the third closed the gap but the Spiders could get no closer.

The loss drops the Spiders to 5-7-0 on the season and a tie for 5th in the division with the Loons. With the top 4 from the B3 East advancing the playoffs, the Spiders sit 1-1/2 games behind the 4th place Wild and 3 games behind the 3rd place Taz Devils. Good news for the Spiders is that they have games remaining against the Loons, Wild, and Taz Devils.

But first up will be a game against the cellar dweller Mighty Northern. The Spiders won the first meeting 10-5 although they didn’t actually play well. This is a must-win leading into a stretch of games against the Wild, Gators, Mutiny, and Loons.

Face off against the Mighty Northern is Sunday, February 15th at 6:00pm at West Side arena.