Third-period outburst lifts team to victoryAfter out-skating visiting Missoula for much of the evening with little to show for it, the Yellowstone Quake hockey team broke out with four goals in the final period to roll to a 6-2 victory in Game 1 of the NORPAC America West playoff on Tuesday night. “We put this team together to score goals and to be physical,” said Quake coach Sean Hogan. “We feel like we can wear anyone down over the course of a series.”

That's pretty much what happened in Tuesday's playoff opener. After skating to a 2-2 deadlock after 40 minutes, the Quake owned the final 20 minutes of ice time.

Donald Barlow beat Missoula goalie Andy DiCristofaro with a power-play goal with just under 13 minutes remaining for what turned out to be the go-ahead score. Six minutes later, with the teams skating at full strength, the scene repeated itself as Barlow lit the lamp again to give the Quake a two-goal advantage.

Mathew Peddie added a short-handed goal with three minutes to play. Chris Rinaldi wrapped up the third-period onslaught with an empty net goal with 77 seconds remaining.

The end result stood in stark contrast to the last meeting between the two teams, an 8-0 Missoula rout less than two weeks earlier.

“We knew we hadn't played our best hockey the last time we faced them,” Hogan said. “We didn't feel like Missoula was eight goals better than we were.”

Outside of the uniforms and the occasional animosity that bubbled to the surface as the game wore on between the two teams, little else on Tuesday night resembled that contest.

A.J. Chute ensured Quake fans would have more to cheer about this time around as he opened the scoring with five minutes remaining in the first period. Mathew Schulz added a goal less than 90 seconds later for a 2-0 Quake advantage.

“It was important for us to score first, not just because of how the last game against them turned out, but also because Missoula came in having lost a few games in a row,” said Hogan. “We thought if we got up on them early there was a chance they'd get down and fold.”

Instead, the Maulers battled back. Julian Breux halved the Quake's lead in the closing seconds of the first period.

Aaron Arnold scored in the waning minutes of the second period, when Missoula out-shot the Quake by a narrow 12-10 margin, to tie the game.

The Maulers had additional chances, but were unable to capitalize on any of their six power play opportunities on the night. Many times, the Missoula club simply had trouble skating the puck into the offensive zone as the Quake's penalty kill unit generated multiple short-handed opportunities, including the one that resulted in Peddie's third-period goal.

“That unit did a nice job tonight,” said Hogan. “They played well.”

Kory Sosnowski, the division leader in assists during the regular season, finished with three in the Quake's first playoff game. Yellowstone and Missoula met Wednesday night at Riley Arena for Game 2 of their best-of-five series. The results of that game will appear on the Powell Tribune's blog.

Game 3 and, if necessary, Game 4 in the series will occur this weekend in Missoula. Should the series go to Game 5, that contest would take place in Cody at 4 p.m. on Sunday.