Bullfrogs Pull One Out Against San Diego

After losing two of their previous three games, the Bullfrogs used some fourth-quarter savvy to pull out a 10-8 victory over San Diego on Sunday.

Savo Mitrovic scored with 2 minutes 49 seconds remaining to break an 8-8 tie and his Bullfrog teammate, Rick Judson, scored his third goal with 1:18 left to secure Anaheim’s victory before 10,101 fans at The Pond of Anaheim.

“In my mind, Savo was the star for tonight’s game,” Bullfrogs Coach Grant Sonier said. “In addition to the game-winning goal, he was finishing his checks. He set the tone for us.”

On the game-winning goal, Bobby McKillop, who finished with three assists, passed to Mitrovic near the top of the left faceoff circle where the Bullfrog forward blasted a slap shot past San Diego goalie Francis Oulette.

“Bobby drew two players before he passed me the puck, but I knew he was going to get it to me,” Mitrovic said. “I had a good look at it.

“We know the league is better now and we have to play hard every night. We just have to stay composed and stay out of the penalty box.”

The Bullfrogs (11-3), who lead Roller Hockey International’s Pacific Division, stayed out of the penalty box early and scored four unanswered goals in the opening 3:12 before San Diego (6-6-2) even attempted a shot.

Brad McCaughey, the Bullfrogs’ assistant coach-player who had one goal and three assists, scored the first goal then assisted on another by Victor Gervais 34 seconds later for a 2-0 lead.

On Friday, McCaughey scored a league-record seven goals in Anaheim’s 16-10 victory at San Jose.

“Brad was the Mario Lemieux of roller hockey,” Sonier said. “He had seven and he could have easily scored 10. He missed two shots when there was a wide-open net.”

The Bullfrogs left their net open to attack in the first half, leaving goalie Rob Laurie to face two-on-none situations twice.

Darcy Norton converted one of those opportunities and Marc Savard scored off an assist from Alan Leggett on the other to bring the Barracudas to a goal down, 4-3.

After the Bullfrogs pushed their lead to 7-4, San Diego’s Scott Gruhl, who finished with three goals and one assist, scored twice in the third quarter. The Barracudas took advantage of several defensive breakdowns by the Bullfrogs, and Norton’s second goal with 8:26 remaining in the game tied the score at 8-8, setting up Mitrovic’s heroics.

Steve Beadle and Gervais each had two goals and Kevin Kerr and Jim Brown had two assists apiece for the Bullfrogs. Laurie had 28 saves and broke a personal two-game losing streak.

Notes

Bullfrog forward Shayne Arsenault suffered a knee injury in Anaheim’s victory over San Jose on Friday and could miss three to four weeks of action, Coach Grant Sonier said. Defenseman Yuri Krivokhija, who has missed seven games with a bruised rotator cuff, also did not play Sunday. Sonier hopes Krivokhija will be ready for Saturday’s home game against the Blades. . . . The Bullfrogs are expecting a near-sellout crowd of 14,000 for Saturday’s game, which will feature “The Lion King” halftime show. The Pond of Anaheim’s capacity has been reduced because of numerous speakers, lights and curtains left in place for the remaining Barbra Streisand concerts. . . . Barry Potomski, who helped the Bullfrogs win the RHI title last season, signed as a free agent with the NHL’s Kings. Potomski played with Adirondack of the American Hockey League last season.