Bulls top Tornado 5-2 in lone NAHL game on Thursday
Amarillo 5 @ Texas 2 – The Amarillo Bulls took over in the final two periods of play and were able to post a big road win against the division-leading Texas Tornado by a score of 5-2 in the lone game in the NAHL on Thursday night. Former Texas defenseman Tyler Rostenkowski had two goals, as did Brandon Flood to lead the Bulls to victory, while Justin Greenberg and CJ Reuschlein scored power-play goals for the Tornado in the loss.
Greenberg’s goal was the first of the game and came after Scott Conway rang a shot off the post. It ricocheted to Brandon Hawkins who passed it across to Greenberg in the slot. His wrist shot beat Bulls goaltender Paul Berrafato and gave the Tornado a 1-0 lead. The Bulls answered with a goal just over two minutes later on Rostenkowski’s first of the game. After a pass from the corner deflected off of Matt Sieckhaus’s stick at the near post, the puck deflected back out front and Rostenkowkski buried it into the open net to tie the score at one.
The second period opened with another Rostenkowski goal to give the Bulls the 2-1 lead. After keepting the puck in at the point, Rostenkowski, who was a member of the Tornado for two-and-a-half seasons, flipped a wrist shot on goal. Hunter Leisner was screened and never reacted, as it slipped it in for the only goal of the second period.
Amarillo broke it open in the third, starting with Flood’s first goal of the game. With the Bulls on the power-play, James LaDouce ripped a slapshot from the point that went wide. Leisner had gone out to the top of the crease to cut the angle off, but couldn’t get back in time to stop the shot from Flood, which came from a sharp angle but went in to make it a 3-1 game. Later in the third, Grapevine native Tyler Gernhofer scored his second goal of the season to extend the Bulls lead to three. Texas picked up another power-play with less than five minutes to play, and when Reuschlein took a great cross-ice pass from Greenbergand ripped it home, it looked like the Tornado might climb back into it. But with the Tornado net empty, Flood guided it down the length of the ice to make it a 5-2 game.