Kyle Jackson extended his point streak to five games and Nikita Sedov scored his first ECHL goal to help the Bloomington Bison overcome a two-goal deficit, but the team ultimately fell 5-4 in overtime to the Cincinnati Cyclones at the Heritage Bank Center Saturday.
Multiple Bison would see milestones during the game, and Mikael Robidoux took the ice for his 200th career ECHL game. Bloomington outshot Cincinnati 9-8 through 20 minutes of play, and neither team found the back of the net in the first period. It didn’t take long, however, for the scoring to begin in period two.
Under two minutes into the second stanza, Cincinnati lit the lamp off a stolen puck in the slot to go up 1-0. Bloomington tied the game at 7:28 when Daniel Tedesco tallied his first as a Bison, and first ECHL goal since January 19, 2018. Jonny Evans set him up on a tip play to earn the primary assist and record his 100th point. The Cyclones jumped ahead 2-1 at 10:45 and increased their lead at 16:38 with a powerplay goal to go up 3-1. Bloomington responded just 40 seconds later when Lou-Felix Denis rifled in a snapshot to the top corner from Eddie Matsushima and Chongmin Lee. Lee then tied the game on his next shift with a slapshot from the nearside faceoff circle into the top left corner of the net. Sedov fed the puck up ice to Matsushima, who got it into the zone and dropped it for Lee to set up the goal against the screened Cyclones goaltender.
With a tied contest in the final regulation frame, Bloomington kept mounting momentum and took a 4-3 lead under nine minutes in off a faceoff play. Jackson won the draw cleanly to Sedov, who ripped in his first ECHL goal. Cincinnati pressured after falling behind on the scoresheet for the first time of the evening and cashed in at 18:19 on a late powerplay to force overtime.
After numerous Bison chances were stymied by the Cyclones, Cincinnati ended the game with a screened wrist shot three minutes and 24 seconds into the extra period.
With the overtime point earned, Bloomington jumped to six points in five games on the season and moved into a three-way tie for third place in the Central Division.
The Bison visit the Indy Fuel for two games this week before returning to Grossinger Motors Arena at 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 8.
Single-game tickets are now available for ALL Bloomington Bison home games starting as low as $20! Visit ticketmaster.com or call 309-965-HERD to purchase tickets today.