Las Vegas Thunderbirds 1, Fresno Monsters 4
Las Vegas made its first trip to Selland Arena on Saturday but met monstrous resistance as Fresno pulled away with four, second period goals. Thunderbirds and Monsters haven’t played each other since opening the 2019-2020 season with four straight games.
It was a totally different Vegas outlook since their first four games; however, the hands of nine distinct players gave the Monsters its first win over Las Vegas this season. Narek Aleksanyan scored a goal and registered an assist, and Ty Wright had two assists as both players led with two points.
Joseph Wheeler got on the board in consecutive nights beating Sebastian Nilsson to open the scoring at 15:01 of the first. John McDonald was assessed a tripping penalty at 18:42 of the second period and the Monsters capitalized on the man advantage with a goal from Zackory Turpin.
The game went scoreless until the final five minutes of the middle period when Fresno found a second wind to pot three successive goals. Triston Mirasty, Aleksanyan, and William Markstedt each scored respectively to make it 4-1.
Nilsson stopped all 10 third period shots to hold on for the victory.
Las Vegas Thunderbirds 6, Fresno Monsters 7(OT)
Las Vegas took it to the Monsters on Sunday forcing a 13-goal game at Selland Arena. Both teams had hat-trick scorers in Mikhail Gravilenko for Fresno, and Anthony Rodriguez for Las Vegas.
Antoine Dumoulin buried the overtime game-winner at 2:01 after the Thunderbirds scored consecutive goals to tie it up 6-6 with eight seconds left in the third period.
Some players make big impacts in the goal department, but Philippov could easily be a No. 1 star having first-assists in four consecutive scoring plays for the Monsters. He assisted in the three goals that gave Fresno their first lead of the game at 12:30 of the second.
Rodriguez was able to tie it up for Las Vegas 3-3, before Philippov found his fourth assist in a row, feeding his teammate, and regaining the lead for the Monsters—he finished the night with five assists.
The Monsters remain undefeated at home with nine wins between Selland Arena and Gateway Ice Center.