St. Louis\’ Ezekiel Estrada scored 11:03 into overtime to beat Cincinnati, 6-5 (OT).
The win by St. Louis clinched the best of three series at 2-0.
St. Louis got the win with help from a great game by Alex Klaesner, who had two goals and one assist. Klaesner scored the first of his two goals at 8:59 into the first period to make the score 1-1. Sam Maddox provided the assist. Klaesner\’s next tally made the score 3-1 St. Louis with 3:53 left in the first period. Maddox picked up the assist.
St. Louis forced Cincinnati\’s netminders to work in net, totaling 59 shots and forcing 53 saves. Daniel Dolliver made 37 stops and Tyler Geloneck made 16.
St. Louis also got points from Estrada, who also racked up one goal and two assists. Others who scored for St. Louis included Tomas Loeffelman, Daniel Dunaway, and Eduard Rumyantsev, who scored one goal each. In addition, St. Louis received assists from Brian Schumacher, Sean Griffin, Chris Brown, and Alex Werdmuller, who each chipped in one.
Cincinnati forced St. Louis\’ goalies to work all game long, taking 31 shots and forcing 26 saves. Jacob Weatherly made seven stops and Zach Young made 19. Cincinnati put up an impenetrable defensive front on the penalty kill, and did not allow St. Louis to score on any of its three power plays.
Cincinnati was led by Hunter Schneider, who registered one goal and two assists. Schneider scored 5:25 into the second period to make the score 3-3. Tyler Simon provided the assist. Cincinnati also had goals scored by Kyle Kinnaman, Rory Callihan, Shawn Moody, and Cobin Sanborn, who each put in one. More assists for Cincinnati came via Albert Janele, Brenden Williams, and James Frantz, who contributed one each.
St. Louis incurred four minutes in penalty time with two minors. Cincinnati incurred six minutes in penalty time with three minors.
