Tyler Cavan had two goals and three assists to lead the Gillette Wild to a 12-3 victory over the Yellowstone Quake.
Cavan scored on the power play at 7:06 into the first period to make the score 1-1 and again while 13:12 into the second to make the score 6-1 Gillette.
Yellowstone's 18 penalties came back to haunt it, as the Quake let up four goals while on the penalty kill.
Gillette racked up the penalties in the contest, and ended with 10 minors and two majors for 60 minutes in penalty time. The total exceeded the 21.0 minutes per game the Wild had been spending in the box. Gillette forced Yellowstone's netminders to work between the pipes, racking up 48 shots and forcing 36 saves. Jared Schletty made nine stops and JT Blum made 27. The Wild outdid their season average for goals scored. Gillette has scored at the pace of 5.0 goals per game during the current campaign. The defensemen of the Wild were also effective in the Quake's zone, and came away with five goals.
Gillette additionally got points from Brandon Miller, who also had one goal and two assists, Taylor Motsinger, who also grabbed two goals and two assists, and Darren Banks, who also finished with one goal and one assist. Ronnie Wilshusen also scored for Gillette. In addition, Gillette received assists from Adam Pecht, Matt Rose, and Tyler Johnson, who contributed one a piece and Alex King and Dylan Martinez, who each chipped in two.
Yellowstone forced its penalty killing units to work especially hard during the game, picking up 14 minors and four majors for 98 minutes in penalty time. The Quake surpassed its season average of 19.0 penalty minutes per game.
Yellowstone was led by Chris Andre, who registered one goal and one assist. Andre scored on the power play 3:06 into the first period to make the score 1-0 Yellowstone. The Quake earned a power play opportunity when Brandon Castleberry was put in the box for tripping. Anthony Leong assisted on the tally. Yellowstone also got a goal from Tommy Toohey as well. Other players who recorded assists for Yellowstone were Cameron Hardiek, Michael Berens, and Shane Fabian, who contributed one a piece.
Brandon Kruckenberg took the win and made 19 saves before being replaced by Sean Kelley who made seven saves. For Gillette, Bobby Solari was ejected from the game. Yellowstone registered two goals on four power play opportunities. Team's Tanner Fricke, Toohey, and TJ Lozier were slapped with misconducts and ejected from the game.