For the first time this season, the Scorpions capitalized on the momentum of back-to-back wins, and this was the result. I could see the Scorpions giving the Southwest Division leaders a decent game, but I never would have predicted a complete shut down of the league's second-best offense. Coupled with Arizona's 5-3 loss at Colorado, the Scorpions now sit 7 points of a playoff spot with 2 games in hand on the 5th place Sundogs.
Observations:
- Hats off the Kyle McNulty. The guy is playing with a ton of confidence, and it's spread to the players in front of him too. Tonight was a great all-around defensive effort, but McNulty deserves the bulk of the credit for earning his first career shutout against one of the league's most formidable attacks
- The most ominous storyline going into tonight was the matchup of Odessa's (at the time) top-ranked powerplay against New Mexico's (at the time) worst-ranked penalty kill. If the shutout didn't make for a surprising enough statistic, the Scorpions' perfect 7-for-7 on the PK certainly did. A few posts here and there didn't hurt the cause
- How about Mr. Craig Macdonald? Maybe he felt like he had to one-up linemates Seth Leonard and Jamie Herrington after their slick hook-up on Saturday, but the Scorps' leading goalscorer had what is probably the goal of the year to this point. He pulled a curl-and-drag that sent Garrett Gruenke clear from the hashmarks to the goalline on his stomach, then deftly tucked the puck 5-hole on Juha Toivonen. I hope Gruenke managed to find his jockstrap before the bus left
- I missed the first few minutes of the game, so I didn't catch Torren Delforte's penalty shot. Did he really juggle the puck and still score? I'll be watching Nifty...
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