Sundogs dominate Blaze

PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. - The Bloomington Blaze, fueled by Mid-Illini Credit Union, gave up the most goals of the season in their worst loss of the campaign, 8-2 to the Arizona Sundogs at Tim's Toyota Center.

For the second straight game, the Sundogs scored in the first minute as Derek LeBlanc caught a wide bounce out of the face-off in his own zone and skated to the other end to wrist a shot inside the right post only 37 seconds into the contest.  David Gilbert answered as he poked a sliding puck deep in the slot inside the right post with 17:46 remaining in the opening period.  Arizona quickly countered out of a face-off in the Bloomington zone with a backhand goal by Chad Nehring to give the hosts a 2-1 with 12:37 left in the first chapter.  Nehring increased the Arizona lead to 3-1 with 7:48 remaining in the first period when he tapped in a shot that had careened off the crossbar.  Nehring completed his hat trick when he found a loose puck in the Bloomington crease before anyone else with 23 seconds left in the opening period to give the Sundogs a 4-1 lead at the first intermission.

Dan Dunn replaced Pier-Olivier Pelletier in the Blaze goal to start the second period, but the Sundogs scored in the opening minute of the second period on an easy tap-in by Ron Meyers off a feed at the doorstep to increase the hosts' lead to 5-1.  Nehring registered his fourth goal of the night with a wraparound with 16:27 left in the middle period for a 6-1 advantage.  Jon Booras put the Blaze on the board with 13:54 left in the second on a running wrister from the slot to cut the deficit to 6-2.  Arizona answered with 10:50 remaining in the second on a drive by Johan Ryd into the upper right corner for a 7-2 Sundogs lead.  Matt Tassone capped a drive with 2:57 left before the second intermission with a drive from the left dot to give the hosts an 8-2 lead through 40 minutes.

The Blaze fall to 16-13-1 while the Sundogs improve to 13-15-4.