Blaine, MN – The Minotauros won a back and forth game on day two of the NAHL Showcase to advance to 2-0-0 for just the second time in franchise history at the league kickoff event. The only other time the Tauros started with two wins at the Showcase was in 2016 when they ran the table to be crowned the Showcase champions. To do that again they need to beat Corpus Christi and Wisconsin over the next two days.
For the second day in a row the Tauros played a scoreless first period before scoring the games first goal in the second. Chad Muller redirected a shot from John Emmons past Carter Richardson to give the Tauros a 1-0 lead 9:48 into the second. The goal came as the Tauros dominated the play in the middle third of the game outshooting the Nordiques 26-6 in the period. However just three minutes after Muller gave the Tauros the lead Cole Hipkin found Kellen Murphy lurking behind the Tauros defense and sent him on a breakaway. Murphy beat Erik Chaffe with a move to his backhand to tie the game at one. The Tauros however would retake the lead capitalizing on a pair of Maine penalties late in the period. With a five-on-three power play the Tauros Muller blasted his second of the game to make it 2-1 Tauros heading into the third.
The third period saw the Nordiques push back in the form of Kim Hilmersson. In a span of 2:04 Hilmersson scored a pair of goals to turn the Tauros 2-1 lead into a 3-2 deficit. John Small would answer back for the Tauros however with his first goal in cream and cardinal on a quick shot from the hashmarks. Tied at three neither team could find an edge over the game’s final 10 minutes and the game would head to three-on-three overtime.
Last season the Tauros went to extra time less than anyone in the league with just five games that needed more than 60 minutes; they were 3-2 in those contests. This game would go the full distance with neither team striking in the extra session it came down to a shootout. The Nordiques would shoot first and Cody Pisarczyk beat Chaffe to put pressure on the Tauros. Joel Lehtinen answered back to have the shootout tied after the first round. Chaffe stopped David Helledy in the second round as he was able to keep his left pad down as Helledy tried to deke around him in tight setting up a chance for the Tauros to shift the pressure to Miane. The newest Tauro Caden Casey came through beating Richardson to set up a must score situation for Maine’s third shooter Murphy. Murphy had three breakaways during regulation including the one he scored on in the second, he went back to that same move but this time Chaffe stopped him to secure the Tauros’ victory.
Next up the Tauros take on the Corpus Christi Ice Rays at 5:30 Friday afternoon on day three of the NAHL Showcase. The games can be seen NAHLtv via pay-per-view video or listened to for free via Mixlr in the Tauros Hockey mobile app for Apple and Android.