Lone Star Brahmas – Amarillo Bulls Preview For Jan 19

The Lone Star Brahmas will play a rare Monday Matinee on Martin King Jr Day as part of the “Battle of the Cattle” series against the visiting Amarillo Bulls. The game will get underway at 2:00pm at the NYTEX Sports Centre. The game will be sponsored by Operation Kindness and they will have several dogs available for adoption. So, not only can you catch some exciting, fast paced NAHL action, but you can also go home with a new family member.

The Battle of the Cattle has seen the teams play seven games so far this season with the Brahmas holding a 4 – 2 – 1 advantage. During their last meeting in Amarillo, the Brahmas suffered a disappointing overtime loss thanks to a very controversial goal by the Bulls late in regulation in game one. In game two they battled back twice to knot the score, but lost 3 – 2.

Over the weekend, the Brahmas traveled to Topeka to take on the NAHL South leading Roadrunners. Lone Star went into the series trailing Topeka by six points, but having three games in hand putting them in a virtual tie. Friday night the Brahmas took a 2 – 1 lead into the first intermission on goals by Roman Uchyn and Liam Stirtzinger. Jake Kupsky made a tremendous glove save early in the second to preserve the Brahmas lead, but Topeka eventually caught up to him scoring twice in the period to establish a 3 – 2 lead where the score would stand the rest of the game. Saturday night the Brahmas once again scored twice in the first with Oskar Andren and AJ Vandrebeck lighting the lamp. After Topeka registered a power play goal in the second, TJ Black and the defense slammed the door the rest of the way. Sebastian Vidmar scored an empty netter late in the third for good measure and the Brahmas hit the road for home with a split.

Amarillo was home against Odessa and extended their win streak to three games. In game one they scored three times in the second period after a scoreless first. Brady Crabtree, Charlie Combs and Luke Novak did the damage with Novak’s coming on the power play. Will Harrison added an empty net goal to finish off the scoring and Anton Martinsson made 36 saves for the 4 – 1 win. The Bulls twice came back from one goal deficits in the first period of game two as Cody Gylling found the back of the net twice. Former Brahma AJ Duggan scored early in the second followed by Gylling’s third for the hat trick. Tristan Rostagno scored in the third for the 5 – 3 final. Martinsson was once again in goal for the win.

Special Teams

Lone Star’s power play has hit a bit of a dry spell lately and has slid to 8^th in the league at 20.9%. The penalty kill on the other hand has continued to roll along and sits at 4t in the league with 86.9%. Amarillo’s power play is 17^th in the league at 14.7% and 23^rd on the penalty Kill with 76.8%. The Bulls have allowed the most power play goals in the league. Head to head this season, the Brahmas have 10 power play goals in 36 opportunities while holding the Bulls to 3 for 29.

At home, the Brahmas’ power play unit comes in 7^th in the league at 22.9% on 24 goals in 105 opportunities. They will be facing an Amarillo road penalty kill ranked 21st at 77.1% allowing 19 goals on 83 penalty kills.

Lone Star’s home penalty kill has allowed only 11 goals on 94 kills which ranks 4th in the league at 87.6%. Amarillo’s road power play will hit the ice ranked 18^th in the league scoring 12 times in 82 opportunities or 14.6%

Goaltending Comparison Last 5 Games

Who is Hot (Last 5 Games)

Inside the Game

The Brahmas currently have the 2^nd best GAA at .909, the 7^th best Save Percentage at 0.909 and are 2^nd in the league in scoring at 3.54 Goals Scored per game. The Bulls on the other hand have a 3.81 GAA which is 22^nd, a 0.890 Save Percentage which is 19^th and average 2.81 Goals Scored per game good for 13^th in the league.

Lone Star is ranked 5^th overall in the NAHL with 53 points. Amarillo is setting at 19^th with 33 points.

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Sebastian Vidmar 24G – 30A is the reigning NAHL Easton Forward of the Month. Vidmar leads the league in Goals Scored, Points, +/- Rating and Game Winning Goals. Oskar Andren 12G – 15A is the reigning NAHL Easton South Division Star of the Week. Andren has 6 Goals Scored in his last four games.

Cody Gylling 19G – 14A leads the Bulls in Goals Scored, Points and Game Winning Goals.

The Brahmas have the league’s best home record at 19 – 1 – 1, the Bulls road record stands at 4 – 13 – 1.

Amarillo is 2^nd in penalty minutes with 947, 2^nd in minor penalties with 236 and 1^st in 10 Minute Misconducts. Lone Star is 3^rd in penalty minutes at 855, 9^th in minor penalties and second in major penalties with 17.

Two of the top scoring defensemen will be playing in the game in Kasper Emanuelsson 3G – 20A ranking him 10^th and Alexey Solovyev 6G – 15A is tied for 12^th.

The Brahmas have four defensemen among the top 16 in +/- Ratings. Caleb Thompson +17 is 11^th, Anton Santesson +15 is 14^th, Solovyev +14 is 15^th and Johan Steen +11 is 16^th. Emanuelsson at +7 leads Amarillo defensemen.

TJ Black is 2^nd in the NAHL with a 1.91 Goals Against Average and Jake Kupsky is 11^th with 2.29.

Oskar Andren currently holds the season high for goals scored in a game with 4 against Wenatchee. Ludvig Larsson is tied for the season high in shots on goal in a game with 10 against Odessa. Eric Carreras is tied for the season high in power play goals in a game with 3 against Amarillo.

Amarillo holds the season team high for minor penalties in a game with 21 and PIMs in a game with 142 against Topeka.