Blaze score three in first to down Mallards

MOLINE - The Bloomington Blaze, fueled by Mid-Illini Credit Union, recorded three first-period goals and defeated the Quad City Mallards 4-1 on Tuesday night at iWireless Center.

The Blaze struck first as Dan Barczuk put home a rebound of a David Gilbert shot with 17:10 left in the first period, but the Mallards answered just 62 seconds later when Mike Hellyer stabbed a rebound between the leg pads on assists from Bob Preece and Patrick Levesque.  Jon Booras rifled a drive from the slot on the glove side on assists from Travis Granbois and Brett Lutes with 7:19 remaining in the opening period to give the Blaze a 2-1 lead.  The Blaze extended the advantage to 3-1 with 2:29 left before the first intermission on a Tom Boudreau goal from Matt Puntereri and Nicolas Rioux. 

The second period was scoreless until 2:29 remaining when Booras collected his second goal of the game on a one-timer from short range on the right side during a 5-on-3 power play with assists given to Steve Makway and Brett Lutes to give the Blaze a 4-1 lead at the second intermission.

Pier-Olivier Pelletier took the win in goal for the Blaze with 32 saves while Neil Conway took the loss with 26 stops.