Lone Star Brahmas – Topeka Roadrunners Preview For Feb 20

This weekend the Lone Star Brahmas will look to build on their Wednesday night shootout win over Wichita Falls when they welcome the Topeka Roadrunners to the NYTEX Sports Centre. It will be the Brahmas first game on home ice since January 31 and the fans are itching for some action. Saturday night is down to standing room only and tickets for Friday night are going quickly. Lone Star is currently three points behind Topeka in the NAHL South Division standing and a sweep of the Roadrunners would vault the Brahmas into first place with 11 games left in the regular season.

These two teams have met six times so far this season and split the season series with identical 3 – 3 – 0 records. The home team has won every game with the exception of their final game in Topeka where the Brahmas came away with a road win.

11/07/14            Topeka 1 at Lone Star 5

11/08/14            Topeka 1 at Lone Star 3

11/28/14            Lone Star 2 at Topeka 4

11/29/14            Lone Star 1 at Topeka 2

01/16/15            Lone Star 2 at Topeka 3

01/17/15            Lone Star 3 at Topeka 1

In Wichita Falls on Wednesday, Lone Star held a 3 – 1 lead midway through the third period on the strength of goals from Liam Stirtzinger, Alexey Solovyev and Anton Santesson. The Stirtzinger and Santesson goals came on the power play. That is when the Wildcats came storming back with two goals in the final 9 minutes of the game to force overtime. After a scoreless overtime period the game went to a shootout with Stirtzinger and Santesson scoring in the first two rounds while Jake Kupsky stopped all four shooters he faced to claim the 4 – 3 win.

Topeka was on the road in Wenatchee, WA for three games last weekend coming away with five of a possible six points. In game one, Topeka got first period goals from Sly Sutter and Tyler Irvine then held on for a 2 – 1 win. The Roadrunners scored in each period of game two with Shawn Brennan, Mike Gornall and Yu Hikosaka doing the damage. In the series finale Sam Rennaker, Hikosaka and Ryan O’Connor gave Topeka a one goal lead going into the first intermission. The Wild tied it up in the second and the game eventually went to a shootout. None of the five Topeka shooter were able to find the back of the net and lost 4 – 3. Matej Tomek made 64 saves against 68 shots faced in games one and two while Drew Vogler allowed two goals on 39 shots in game two.

Special Teams

Special Teams play will be a battle in this series with all four units being ranked in the top six in the NAHL. The Brahmas come in with the 6^th ranked power play at 22.22% on 48 goals in 216 opportunities. Their penalty kill is hitting at 87.75% on 25 goals allowed on 204 kills. This has them ranked 2^nd in the league. The Roadrunners have equally impressive numbers with the 2^nd ranked power play at 25.25% having scored 51 goals on 202 attempts. Topeka’s penalty killers are setting 5^th in the league on 26 goals allowed in 190 kills or 86.32%.

At home the Brahmas’ power play is clicking at 24.3% on 27 goals in 111 opportunities good for 5^th in the league. They will be facing the 7^th ranked road penalty kill unit at 85.5%. Topeka has allowed 12 goals on 83 times shorthanded. When on the penalty kill the Brahmas home unit ranks 2^nd in the league allowing only 11 goals in 103 kills for 89.3%. The Roadrunners come in with a road power play setting 9^th in the league at 19.3% on 17 goals in 88 opportunities.

In their six head-to-head meetings this season the Brahmas are 3 – 26 on the power play while the Roadrunners are 5 – 30.

Goaltending Comparison Last 5 Games

Who is Hot (Last 5 Games)

Inside the Game

The Brahmas enter the game with the 3^rd lowest Goals Against Average at 2.23 and 6^th best Save Percentage at .908. They allow the 2^nd lowest average Shots Allowed at 24.26. On offense they are averaging 3.49 Goals Scored per game which is 4th in the NAHL. Topeka is currently ranked 2^nd in Goals Against Average, 3^rd in Save Percentage and 7^th in Shots Allowed. They have a 2.15 GAA, a 0.920 Save Percentage and allow 26.81 shots on goal. Offensively they average 3.27 Goals Scored per game which is 6^th in the NAHL.

On the road, the Roadrunners’ Goals Against Average jumps to 2.62 compared to a 1.77 average at home.

Lone Star averages 4.25 goals per game at home versus 2.70 on the road.

The teams each have two skaters in the top 20 in scoring. The Brahmas have Sebastian Vidmar 25G – 38A who is 2^nd in the league and Ludvig Larsson 18G – 26A who is 16^th. For Topeka it is Jasen Fernsler 13G – 33A at 10^th and Mike Gornall 14G – 31A at 14^th.

On the defense we find much the same with both teams having two skaters in the top 20. For Lone Star it is Alexey Solovyev 8G – 20A good for 11^th and Anton Santesson 6G – 18A at 18^th. Topeka’s Daniel Brickley 10G – 22A is 7^th and Ryan Polin 5G – 18A is 20^th.

All four of the goaltenders are in the top 15 as well. Topeka’s Matej Tomek leads the league with a 1.59 GAA while Lone Star’s TJ Black is 4^th with a 2.02 GAA. Jake Kupsky is 8^th with a 2.23 and Drew Vogler is 15^th at 2.45.

Sebastian Vidmar is tops in the league in goals scored with 25, 2^nd in assists, 3^rd in +/- rating and 1^st in game winning goals.

Jasen Fernsler leads the league with 19 power play assists.

Matej Tomek has six shutouts on the season which leads the league.

Topeka leads the league in power play goals scored with 51.

The Brahmas are averaging 21.16 penalty minutes per games compared to 13.24 for the Roadrunners. Lone Star has been whistled for 21 more Minor penalties in 47 games which accounts for less than one minute of the difference. Where the major difference comes in is with Majors and 10 Minute Misconducts where the Brahmas are 12 and 15 ahead of Topeka.

The Brahmas have a 20 – 1 – 1 record on NYTEX ice this season. Topeka is 11 – 7 – 3 on the road.

Lone Star is on a 7 game non-loss streak dating to Feb 4.