Mavericks: Slip Slidin’ Away

When we last checked in with the Flames’ ECHL affiliate, the Kansas City Mavericks were trying to track down a playoff spot! The team managed to tread water, going .500 through their most condensed and road-heavy part of the season schedule, and were sitting two points out. KC was unable to forge ahead, however, having picked up only two wins in their seven games since and having now gone 4-4-2 in their previous ten. A pair of extra points from two OTL’s didn’t help much in the tight race, as dropping 2-of-3 to the Rush and 3-of-4 to the division leading Thunder now sees the squad six points back of the fourth and final Western Conference playoff berth. With just over a month remaining in their schedule, this was a rough time to let the gap widen in the race.

GAME BY GAME:

APR 22nd- KC Mavericks 1 vs Wichita Thunder 6 -LOSS

APR 23rd- KC Mavericks 6 vs Wichita Thunder 7 -LOSS (OT)

APR 24th- KC Mavericks 3 vs Wichita Thunder 2 -WIN (OT)

APR 30th- KC Mavericks 2 @ Rapid City Rush 3 -LOSS

MAY 1st- KC Mavericks 2 @ Rapid City Rush 3 -LOSS (OT)

MAY 2nd- KC Mavericks 5 @ Rapid City Rush 2 -WIN

MAY 6th- KC Mavericks 5 vs Wichita Thunder 7 -LOSS

THE SQUAD:

Seen above with last weekend’s OT winner, Mavs’ star forward Brodie Reid has been heavy in the chase for the ECHL scoring title this year! Brodie was named ECHL Player of the Month for January to start the year, and has spent most of his time since leading the points race. He has only recently relinquished the top spot to Wichita’s Anthony Beauregard. Reid remains in fourth place in the league scoring race, adding 4 goals and 2 assists in his last seven matchups. Despite being in fourth in the points race, Reid is tied for first in the ECHL with 14 powerplay assists. With five games in hand on Beauregard, Brodie might still have a shot on making up that 15 point gap for the lead!

In other news from the forwards, Lane Scheidl recently hit the 200 Career ECHL Points mark last Saturday! Lane currently has 16 goals and 23 assists on the campaign.

Taking a look in the blue paint, Andrew Shortridge returned to the Mavericks after battling injury trouble early in the year and running a two month stint on loan to the Flames’ AHL affiliate Stockton Heat. Being sent back down on April 30th, he suited up and stopped 23 of 25 in a win over Rapid City on May 2nd. We’ll see how he factors back into the rotation moving forward. The Matts, Ginn and Greenfield, have so far seen even numbers of action and production in the absence of Shortridge. With just under four weeks remaining, we’ll keep an eye on how the crease competition bears out!

UP NEXT:

The Mavs will finish off the final two games of a three game set with the first place Wichita Thunder, and will have more stiff competition as they play the second place Allen Americans for three right after. If the team can manage to somewhat survive that stretch, they’ll have a four game set with the Tulsa Oilers coming, and they’ll need to directly leapfrog Tulsa if they want to move up the standings. Time is ticking down on the Mavericks regular season, so keep locked to Matchsticks & Gasoline to follow their playoff chase!