IceRays 6, Scorpions 3

This is starting to sound all-to-familiar...
-Scorpions dig themselves a hole
-Scorpions wake up, play inspiring hockey to seemingly dig themselves out of hole
-Scorpions shoot themselves in the foot
-Hole gets deeper, Randy Murphy gets angrier

I guess Wednesday's game was somewhat of a role-reversal from last Saturday, when the Scorps were the ones to jump on a wounded Rocky Mountain squad. Still, one would think Murphy's troops would come out a lot hungrier against another team starved for confidence.

Observations:

• I think everyone in the building collectively said "here we go again" when the IceRays converted their first two powerplays less than 6 minutes in. Credit Ryan Bennett with a pair of textbook shots from the point. Andrew Martin never saw the first one, and he had no time to react on a superb tip from Mike Zbriger on the second. On the plus side, the Scorpions PK somehow managed to relax and do its part for the rest of the game. Too bad it took two goals
• Kris Tebbs deserves all the credit in the world for making the Rays' lead stand. The guy was seeing absolutely everything and his rebound control was exceptional. It was one of those nights where you knew everything was on his side, including Lady Luck. I by no means want to take anything away from Tebbs' performance, but there were about 7 or 8 shots he didn't stop that fate managed to keep out. With the Scorps already down 2-0 and on another PK, Aaron MacInnis took a Torren Delforte feed and ripped one past Tebbs that came right back off the post. That would've made it a 2-1 game and shifted the momentum heavily in the Scorps' favor. Then in the third period, both Jamie Herrington and Craig Macdonald missed wide-open nets, and Corey Courchene danced through 3 Corpus defenders, only to have the puck roll on him when he went to the backhand on Tebbs. Then again, it's not like Tebbs didn't earn some good fortune
• Having talked so much about Tebbs, it has to be said that the second period was one of the best periods of hockey the Scorpions have played all season. Personally, I thought they looked even more dominant and more confident than they did in that third period comeback against Wichita, and outshooting a team like Corpus by a margin of 25-5 shows that. They were buzzing in the offensive zone and doing a great job of forechecking and forcing turnovers down low. Still, it has to hurt when the Scorps have outshot their opponents by a combined count of 38-14 in the second period in their last two home games, yet they've been outscored 4-3 in that middle frame.
  
• Martin's giveaway to Zbriger to start the third period was an absolute disaster, especially after how well the Scorpions cycled the puck on the first shift of the period. Goals don't come much easier than that at the pro level
• Greg Rajan said it and I completely agree with him: what a goal by Mark Tobin! Martin had stonewalled him twice in the first period, and it was pretty clear that he was not to be denied. It was impressive enough that he fought off two checks and kept the puck in front of him, but to go backhand-shelf from literally on top of the crease is just spectacular, especially on late-period ice
• Speaking of highlight-reel material, Mitch Stephens' end-to-end rush to get the Scorps within one was a thing of beauty as well. When Stephens can hit the line with speed, there is no one better on this Scorps team at finishing the play off. It reminded me a bit of the shorty he scored against Arizona in the playoffs last year, when Chris Bartolone completely underestimated Stephens' wheels and got turned inside out