Nighthawks sink their talons into Spiders

Feb. 26, 2012

Last week saw the Spiders grab a tie from an impending win, and this week, the boys managed to gift the Nighthawks a win with a minute to go.

Scoring started relatively early for the Nighthawks as Smith buried one, 8:11 into the first period.

Three minutes later, Captain Lowman made it 2–0, which held through the next 52 seconds.

Eric Grotbeck blasted a draw that came from the left faceoff dot right past all six clueless Nighthawks into the goal before they knew what happened.

Not one penalty in the first period. An omen? No, apparently everyone was waiting for the 2nd and 3rd period.

The ’Hawks Mr. Frost goes to the bin first for the stick up high at 11:32 of period 2.

Talented but not tongue-tied Tim Byland gets 2 minutes for a rough, then adds plenty of lip to assure a 4-minute sit. A nice kill for the 4:00 kept the ’Hawks from converting.

Fortunately for the Spiders, they elected to forgo their usual 2nd period slump and Cory Vandenberghe chipped in a rebound from Rick Fritz and Dave Schuster, ultimately receiving the point and a healthy cross-check sending him into the boards. (In Mr. V’s usual, dramatic flying, slamming, and exhibitionist style.)

High sticks were everywhere in the 3rd. As Smith goes to the box for a high stick at 14:20 of the third, the Spiders were given a gift of Lowman (high stick) and Rogers (rough) going to the box, both at 12:32. This gave the Spiders a 5-on-3 for a full 2:12. Three guys in the box didn’t help the Spiders’ power play, as somehow the Spiders couldn’t find the handle on the puck, and frittered away their best chance of the night.

Apparently the Nighthawks had their fill of penalties, and it was now time for the Spiders to take the dumbest penalty of all, too many men on the ice at 7:13. Although the Spiders killed that penalty, it was decided that another high stick should be called on Mike Schroeder with 2:53 remaining. The first minute of the penalty saw no shots from the Nighthawks, as the Spiders sent the puck down the ice several times.

With a minute and 10 seconds left in the game, the Nighthawks dumped the puck deep and it eventually landed on the outside of the goal on the back netting. As several Spiders were waiting for the non-existent whistle, Lowman plucked the puck off the net and wrapped it into the goal, catching all five Spiders on the ice with their breezers around their ankles.

A disappointing loss for the Spiders hopefully taught them to play the full 51 minutes, and that it is a game of inches. Tighten up just a bit, and the Spiders will have a good run at the playoffs.

Playoff watch

The Spiders’ C3 standings free-fall in the month of February has put them at the bottom edge of the top 6. Opening the month with a lock on third, the Spiders (8–6–1–1; 18pts) find themselves at the end of the month in sixth ... or even seventh place, once the last week 16 score between the sixth-place Fighting Saints (8–6–1; 17pts) and eighth-place Fighting Piranhas (7–6–1–1; 16pts) is reported.

The Vegas Line Analstats.com site generously puts the Spiders’ post-season chances at 74.8%, down 10.5% from last week. With the trade deadline already past, the Spiders will need to put together a strong finish in the last four games of the season to achieve that 74.8%.

Standing in their way, the 10th place C3 Maroons (5–8–2–1; 13pts). The previous meeting had the shorthanded Spiders succumbing to the shorter-handed Maroons 3–2 back in Movember at SLP East. The Maroons are coming off a 5–4 OT loss to the Diablos. Puck drops this Saturday at 9:45 p.m. on the same ice sheet.