The Dead Kings had the Squirrels’ number during the regular season, beating them twice despite finished 6th in the standings. The Squirrels, however, won when it counted the most, winning 4-3 in the first round of the playoffs on Sunday.

Tied at two in the second, the Squirrels scored twice more, then held the Dead Kings to one goal in the third. Brent Machado, Desi Richelsen, Mark Tessar and Jon Danziger scored for the Squirrels. The Squirrels outshot the Dead Kings, 44-22, as sub goalie Shane Smith earned the victory in net. Kudos to Chi Pham for showing up even though he was ineligible to play.

Down 4-1 in the third period, the Squirrels scores twice down the stretch to cut the lead to 4-3, but ultimately fell 5-3 on Thursday.

Playing with a short bench and without their top scorers, the Squirrels kept up with the Dead Kings for much of the game, even taking a 1-0 lead in the second period, but surrendered two goals – one early and one late – in the third period in a 2-1 loss. Tero Moberg scored for the Squirrels.

Squirrels Get Wakeup Call

The Dead Kings came out of the gate shooting. The Squirrels couldn’t clear the zone, and the first loss of the season seemed to be a reality. But then the Squirrels found the trick to winning, and what started out as lopsided ice turned into a 7-3 victory behind a solid performance by goaltender Drew Thiemann.

The league’s leading scorer, Jeff Huntington, scored on a wraparound at 1:26 into the game to put the Dead Kings up, 1-0. The Squirrels tied it at 9:42 as Brent Machado scored what he referred to as a ‘fluke.’ Michael Bronson then put the Squirrels up 2-1 at 11:23 with a patient shot out front. Charles Wolstein picked up an assist on the play, the stay-at-home defenseman’s first point of the season. Then the Dead Kings scored on what looked to be a shot with a high stick, but the referees allowed it, and the score was 2-2 after a frustrating first period for the Squirrels.

The score remained tied throughout much of the second period before Chris Long saw a loose puck behind the goaltender, dashed over and hammered it home. Late in the period, Ben Sumner scored on what he referred to as a ‘fluke.’ The second period featured nine minor penalties on both teams, three pairs of which were coincidental.

Bronson, Matt Borlik and Long scored in the third period, but the Dead Kings didn’t give up, and got a third while peppering Thiemann with shots near the end of the game. Thiemann made 28 saves as the Squirrels scored seven times on 26 shots.

Bronson, Machado, Long, Sumner, Borlik, Thiemann, Wolstein, Brian Jackson, Dan Carter, Rob Myers and Matt Benson played for the Squirrels.

The next game is Jan. 3, 2008, at 10 p.m. against the Piranhas.

The Squirrels and Dead Kings hadn’t played each other since July 10, 2005. That summer, the Dead Kings took four games from the Squirrels. A year and a half later, the Squirrels got a bit of revenge with a game that was nearly over with six minutes to go in the second period. Instead, the Dead Kings didn’t allow the Squirrels to get the 10-goal lead until 2:21 of the third period, when the Squirrels ended it at 11-1.

Tony Richelsen and Rob Myers each had three goals, Ed Bager and Brent Machado had two, and Greg Wenograd notched one for the Squirrels. Myers also had three assists. The seventh goal was scored 8:46 in the second period to start the running clock. The Squirrels outshot the Dead Kings, 31-10.

The Squirrels played without Don Marks, Wade Marks, Chi Pham, Brian Jackson, Paul Kobernick, Sergio Balatan, Adam Hughes and Phil Van der Vossen.

The next game is Sunday, Jan. 28, at 8:55 p.m. against Meltdown.