BOSSIER CITY, LA – David Rutherford finished with four points and Shane Hart had three as the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs sprinted past the Dayton Gems 7-2 Friday night at the CenturyTel Center. The win puts the Mudbugs at 32-24-3 and in sole possession of third place in the Berry Conference after Tulsa’s loss in Rapid City. The ‘Bugs will complete a six-game homestand Saturday at 7:05 pm when they face the Texas Brahmas at the CTC.

Box Score

Rutherford scored one goal and assisted on three others for Bossier-Shreveport, while Hart scored twice and helped set up Rutherford’s tally. Defenseman Kevin Young also posted two assists in his Mudbugs debut and Brett Smith, Steven Crampton and Travis Clayton each had a goal and an assist.
 
The Mudbugs led 1-0 after a first period that saw a combined total of only six shots between the teams, with five of those going to the ‘Bugs. One of those shots went in exactly halfway through the period when Jeff Kyrzakos held a puck in at the Dayton line and gave it to Shawn Limpright, who slid home his 18th goal of the year at the 10:00 mark.
 
Bossier-Shreveport exploded out of the gate in the second frame, making it 3-0 with two goals in the first 22 seconds. Shane Hart finished off a centering pass from David Rutherford nine seconds into the period and then Andy Contois returned the favor with a centering feed to Rutherford, who knocked in his 34th goal of the year 13 seconds later. Dayton got on the board when Nick Canzanello fired a perfect shot into the top corner from the boards at 5:59 just seconds after Ryan Munce had made a fantastic paddle-down save at the goal mouth.
 
The Mudbugs took the three-goal edge back on the powerplay when Brett Smith sent a puck across the crease to be finished off by Steven Crampton in his first game back from a six-game injury absence. Munce made another spectacular save during a Gems powerplay to maintain that lead a short time later. Rutherford then beat the defense to a loose puck deep in the Dayton zone and drove to the front of the net before dishing to Hart, who rifled in his second goal of the night at 15:49 to put the ‘Bugs up 5-1 after 40 minutes.
 
Dayton made it 5-2 with a powerplay goal from Brandon Naurato after a nice passing play at 7:45 of the third period. Bossier-Shreveport scored again at 11:26 however when Smith deflected a Kevin Young pass into the net to give the ‘Bugs a 6-2 edge. Travis Clayton capped off the scoring with a rebound goal just over a minute later as the Mudbugs won their third straight game and took the season series with Dayton two games to one.
 
Ryan Munce (3-2-1) finished with 26 saves to move above .500 as a Mudbug, while Derek MacIntyre (6-8-1) stopped 20 shots in the loss before being relieved by Guy St. Vincent. Bossier-Shreveport converted two of five powerplay chances but was outshot 28-27 for the night. Dayton ended 1 for 4 on the powerplay.