The St. Louis Ambush defeated the Kansas City Comets 6-5 Saturday night at the Silverstein Eye Centers Arena in Independence. The win improved St. Louis’ record to 3-2, while Kansas City dropped to 1-4. It marked the first time ever the Ambush have defeated the Comets in two consecutive games. The Ambush also beat the Comets 6-5 last Sunday at the Family Arena.
The Comets posted the lone goal of the first quarter on a restart when John Sosa passed to Lucas Rodriguez, who was able to place a high shot out of reach of Ambush goalkeeper Paulo at 5:12. The equalizer came 30 seconds into the second period when Justin Stinson was able to beat Comets goalkeeper Brett Petricek. St. Louis took a 2-1 lead when JT Thomas scored off a pass from Lucas Almeida at 4:12. The Comets were awarded a power play when Mario Marcos was sent to the penalty box for boarding at 5:47. The home team would make good on the opportunity, as Rodriguez scored his second of the contest to tie the game at 6:06. The go-ahead goal for Kansas City came on James Togbah’s unassisted tally at 10:10. At halftime, the Comets held a 3-2 lead.
The Ambush drew even early (4:34) in the third frame when Justin Stinson went on a long run, evaded two Comets players, passed the ball to Mario Marcos, who sent a long pass to JT Thomas, who promptly netted his second goal of the match. Less than a minute later (5:12), Stinson was the play maker again as he sent a side pass to Zach Reget, who found the back of the net to regain the lead (4-3) for St. Louis. The back-and-forth continued when John Sosa scored on a restart at 7:59. Only seconds later, the Ambush regained the lead (5-4) when Stinson took a shot that Petricek was able to block but the ball rebounded to Reget, who fired a rocket into the net at 8:12. St. Louis built on their lead when Jerjer Gibson drew Petricek out of the goal, then sent a wall pass to Almeida, who fired the ball into the empty net at 13:21 to give the Ambush a 6-4 lead they would take into the final stanza.
The Comets chipped away at the lead when a loose ball in front of the net found Leo Gibson, who scored at 12:45 of the fourth quarter, resulting in a 6-5 Ambush lead that they would grasp until the final buzzer.
Paulo made 19 saves on 24 attempts (.792) in winning his second game of the season for the Ambush. Brett Petricek saved 16 on 22 chances (.727) in taking the loss. Kansas City outshot St. Louis 33-28.
The Ambush and Comets will battle for the third consecutive game when the series returns to the Family Arena next Saturday, December 29 at 7:05 p.m.
In honor of Corey Adamson’s game-winning overtime goal on December 16, the Ambush are offering a “Adamson 4-Pack, 4 for $40” ticket special for the December 29 game. The 4-pack offer is good only through December 27. The December 29 game also features the popular annual Kids Bash at no extra charge following the game.
