Thunderbirds win road battle over Zydeco

BATON ROUGE, LA. – The Twin City Thunderbirds won a road battle against the Baton Rouge Zydeco by a final score of 4-3 Saturday night at the Raising Cane’s River Center. Roman Kraemer, Jon Buttitta, Connor Craig, and Nate Keeley each netted goals for Twin City in the victory. Boris Babik won the game in net for the Thunderbirds, earning his 50^th career victory in the FPHL. The final game of this weekend’s three-game series between the Thunderbirds and the Zydeco will begin tomorrow at 4:05pm ET.

Consecutive powerplay goals gave Twin City a 2-0 advantage during the 1^st period. Roman Kraemer scored his nineteenth goal of the year at 8:06 of the opening period to give the Thunderbirds a one-goal lead in the matchup. Zach White and Josh Labelle each collected an assist on the scoring play. Jon Buttitta netted his ninth goal of the season at 17:13 of the 1^st period. Buttitta’s goal was scored on the powerplay, and was assisted by Chris Mott and Kayson Gallant. Jake Cox scored an even-strength goal with less than two minutes to play in Saturday’s opening period to put the Zydeco on the scoreboard. Cox’s goal was assisted by Scott Shorrock and Bailey Morrissette. Twin City outshot Baton Rouge by a 13-5 margin during the 1^st period, and the Thunderbirds carried a 2-1 lead into Saturday’s 2^nd period.

Each team was held off of the scoreboard during Saturday’s middle period. Twin City outshot Baton Rouge by a 20-10 margin during the period, and the Thunderbirds entered the 3^rd period with a one-goal advantage. Connor Craig netted a goal at 4:36 of the 3^rd period to give Twin City a 3-1 lead in the battle. Craig’s goal was assisted by Chris Mott and Josh Labelle. Nate Keeley scored a goal less than one minute later to give Twin City a 4-1 advantage in the matchup. Keeley’s goal was assisted by Roman Kraemer and Jon Buttitta. Blake Keller netted an even-strength goal at 9:45 of the final period to give Baton Rouge a second goal of the night. Kim Miettinen and Bailey Morrissette each collected assists on the scoring play. The final goal of the matchup was netted on the powerplay by the Zydeco’s Scott Shorrock. Jake Cox and Nick Ketola notched an assist on the goal. Twin City fought off an extra-attacker effort in the final minutes from Baton Rouge to secure the 4-3 victory. The Thunderbirds were outshot by an 11-9 margin during the 3^rd period. Twin City outshot Baton Rouge by an overall margin of 42-26 during Saturday night’s showdown.

Boris Babik made 23 saves on 26 shots in net for the Thunderbirds during the battle. Bailey Stephens dropped the game in goal for the Zydeco in a 38-save-on-42-shot effort.