The Mavericks faced off against the Pittsburgh Vengeance this past weekend in the first of two home-and-home series against the Keystone state rivals. In a series with no shortage of physical play and exciting action, the Mavs took two points home, splitting the weekend one win a piece.

The series kicked off with a home game on Friday night at OhioHealth Chiller North that was marked by scoring and game tempo extremes. The visiting Vengeance opened the scoring in a wild first period just three minutes into the game. The Mavs wasted little time in responding as Ethan Bishara scored his first goal of the game just three minutes later, assisted by Chance Settles and Eric Podgorny. After the Vengeance would score their second goal of the period, it was all Mavs for the rest of the period, as they answered back with three goals, scored by Nik Jozefiak, assisted by Ethan Bishara, Chance Settles, assisted by Dylan Flesher, and Ethan Bishara, assisted by Brian Odstrchel and Caleb Fifolt, to take a 4-2 lead into the first intermission.

Following the fireworks of the first period, the second period and first half of the third period would see no scoring. Half-way into the third period, the Vengeance would break the scoreless streak as they mounted their comeback attempt. As the Mavs worked to protect their lead, the Vengeance would score the game-tying goal with just four minutes remaining in regulation. The final minutes of the game saw numerous scoring attempts by the Mavs, but the score after 60 minutes would stay knotted at 4 a piece, sending the game into overtime.

As the bonus period wound down with both teams mounting scoring attempts, the Mavs caught the Vengeance mid-line change as Tyler Isherwood fed Carson Johnston who buried the puck for the game-winner at the 2:44 mark in overtime. Nik Jozefiak picked up the second assist on the game winner. Zach Waizmann got his 4th start of the season for the Mavs and stopped 39 of 43 shots on the night to take home the victory.

Following Friday night’s overtime victory, the Mavs hit the road, traveling to Alpha Ice Complex in Pittsburgh for the second game of the weekend series. As the Mavs looked for the weekend sweep, the Vengeance were looking for redemption, and the home team would use the home ice to their advantage as they evened the series with a 6-3 victory.

Ethan Bishara opened the scoring for the Mavs in the first period with a power play goal at the 9:21 mark, assisted by Chance Settles. After the Vengeance responded with two goals, Captain, Eric Podgorny would even the score with another power play goal at the 17:11 mark, with an assist from Colin Crowley. The second period would belong to the Vengeance as they scored two more to take a 4-2 lead into the second intermission. Looking to mount a comeback, Tyler Isherwood would open the third period scoring just four minutes in, with an assist from Roman Boffa. That is unfortunately, where the comeback would end for the Mavs as Pittsburgh would score two more goals before the end of regulation to secure their 6-3 victory on home ice. Alex Toth got the nod in net for the Mavs and turned away 29 of 35 shots on the evening.

The Mavs are back in action this Sunday, October 10th as they travel north to Alice Noble Ice Arena to take on the Wooster Oilers in a 3:30 PM matchup. You can catch all of the action live on HockeyTV!