TUNG STOPS 36, BISON TOPPLE HEARTLANDERS ON SECOND-STRAIGHT NIGHT
By: Erik Konwinski, Bloomington Bison
Coralville, Iowa – Callum Tung made 36 saves and the powerplay recorded its first road goal of the season as the Bloomington Bison defeated the Iowa Heartlanders 3-1 at Xtream Arena on Saturday.
Bloomington dominated the beginning of the contest and outshot Iowa on a 5-1 tear to start. Later on, the Bison opened the scoring when Parker Gavlas potted his second goal in as many games from the left circle. Ilya Tsulygin and Kyle Jackson assisted the 1-0 goal from behind the net at 7:37. Tung made 17 saves during the frame and the visitors took their lead into the middle frame despite being outshot 17-10.
The Bison jumped up 2-0 just over three minutes into the second stanza with their first road powerplay goal of the season. Eddie Matsushima won a faceoff to Shane Ott, who set up Jackson for a one-timed shot from the far circle. Daniel Tedesco added to Bloomington’s total and gave his team a 3-0 lead from Brett Budgell and Mark Kaleinikovas just 64 seconds later, over four minutes into the second. Brandon Yeamans dropped the gloves against his former team and was tagged with a five-minute fighting penalty nearly nine minutes into the period, at the same time a tripping minor was called on the Bison. Bloomington killed off the penalty for its first kill of the game. Before the end of the frame, Iowa was called for a throwing the stick infraction, and the penalty kill became a factor early in the third.
Sixty-three seconds into the final regulation frame, Iowa caught an outlet pass from behind its net and rifled the puck in from the near-side circle for a shorthanded tally. Tung stopped another fantastic Heartlanders chance to keep his team up by two goals early in the third, and stellar goaltending continued. Iowa pulled its goaltender for an extra attacker within the final two and a half minutes, but Bloomington held strong and finished with the 3-1 score advantage. Iowa outshot the Bison 37-27 but fell for the second straight night against Bloomington.
The Bison return to Grossinger Motors Arena Friday, November 28th at 7 p.m. against the Iowa Heartlanders for a 309 Night featuring $3 Busch Lights, $0 popcorn and $9 specialty T-shirts! 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.
