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by Bill Althaus, Grain Valley News LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - Coming off a near-perfect 6-0 victory at Lake Tahoe Saturday night – which earned Kansas City a place in the ECHL's Western Conference championship series for the second year in a row – coach Tad O'Had's team is confident, excited and looking forward to the series opener. Toledo, the team Kansas City beat 4-2 in the conference championship last season, travels to Cable Dahmer Arena Thursday night for a 7:05 p.m. matchup. “In the playoffs, you're most important game is always your next game,” said goaltender Jack LaFontaine, who picked up his fourth playoff shutout in Saturday's win over the Knight Monsters. “There's some added intrigue to the game because we did not play Toledo in the regular season. But we defeated them 4-2 in last season's championship series. “They have a great offense and defense and solid goaltending. It should be another exciting series.” The Walleye bring an 8-2 postseason record to Cable Dahmer Arena after beating Fort Wayne 4-2 in their semifinal series. “Our series against Tahoe was a complete series,” O'Had said. “They did not score an even-strength goal in the series. We outscored them 17-4 and Jack was so responsible in the net. "Our defense was a great – Tahoe was 0-for-5 on the power play Saturday night. Our guys did a great job playing in front of Jack, and getting that first goal was so big because it gave us momentum that we held onto the entire game.” Max Andreev opened the scoring just 1:42 into the first period and added a second goal early in the third to pace the Mavericks’ offense. Cade Borchardt and Jackson Berezowski also scored in the opening frame, helping Kansas City take a commanding 3-0 lead after twenty minutes. "That was so big," O'Had said. "We got the lead early and we were never challenged by Tahoe. You could see our guys' confidence grow throughout the game, and we need to take that momentum in Thursday night's game." While O'Had has taken a moment to reflect on his team's postseason play, he and associate coach Riley Weselowski have been burning the midnight oil, to make sure their team knows as much about Toldeo as any opponent they have faced this season. "Our coaches do such a great job getting us prepared for every opponent we face," said LaFontaine, who has a microscopic 1.28 goals against average in the playoffs. "You know we're going to be ready Thursday. Starting the series at home is so cool. Our fans have been an important part of our success."Damien Giroux added to the lead just 21 seconds into the second period, and the Mavericks never looked back. Jake McLaughlin scored the final goal midway through the third, assisted by Zack Trott. LaFontaine stopped all 25 shots on goal and improved to 8-2, as he has started all 10 playoff games. "I'm ready for anything in the playoffs," LaFontaine added. "Each series has been short and all the guys are playing banged up. I feel great. I want to be in the net - especially Thursday night. Heck, it's the biggest game of the season!"  Jack LaFontaine's Mavericks congratulate the red-hot goaltender who was in the net Saturday night when Kansas City blanked the Knight Monsters 6-0 to sweep their four-game, second-round series 4-0. LaFontaine has four shutouts and eight wins in the postseason. Photo credit: Kansas City Mavericks  Cade Borchardt celebrates after scoring a goal in the Kansas City Mavericks 6-0 Saturday night victory at Tahoe. The Mavericks played a near perfect game as they swept the Knight Monsters 4-0 to earn a spot in the Kelly Cup Western Conference championship against Toledo. Photo credit: Kansas City Mavericks  Comments are closed.
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