Laredo 6, RGV 2
Led by Daryl Smith’s (2-1-3) two goals and an assist, the Laredo Bucks scored four unanswered goals to top the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees 6-2 Friday night at Dodge Arena.
HIDALGO, TX -- Jesse Bennefield added his 19th goal of the season, while Joel Irving captured his 9th in the contest for the Bees.
Laredo struck early in the first at the 2:42 mark when Jay Holladay connected with helpers from Igor Agarunov and Todd Griffith, but Irving tied things up at 13:57 with assists from Topher Scott and Shaun Landolt. Smith netted his first of the night at 15:31 to give the Bucks the 2-1 lead going into the second period.
Bennefield tied things up at 5:47 in the second, but Smith put the Bucks back up by one with an unassisted shot at 6:58 to go into the final frame.
Jeff Bes connected on the power play at 14:56 in the third for Laredo, followed by former Bee Mark O’Leary with a glove side shot past Rio goalie Andy Franck making it a 5-2 game. Franck was then pulled with 3:51 left in the game while the Bees were on the power play due to a Bucks penalty on Justin Styffe for goalie interference allowing Curtis Billstein to capitalize on the empty net sealing the deal for Laredo.
Kevin Defosses picked up the win in net with 38 saves, while Franck suffered the loss with 19 saves.