FPHL 
OFFICIAL SITE OF THE
BATON ROUGE ZYDECO
PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY CLUB
Kuznetsov Seals It in OT as Zydeco Finish Regular Season with Thriller in Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, LA – The Baton Rouge Zydeco wrapped up their regular season in dramatic fashion Monday night at home, taking down the Mississippi Sea Wolves 4-3 in overtime. In a game that had all the intensity of a playoff preview, it was Dmitry Kuznetsov who delivered the dagger just 92 seconds into OT, closing the book on Baton Rouge’s regular season campaign in style.
The night started with Jake Cox staying red hot, opening the scoring midway through the first period off feeds from Shane Haggerty and Chris Ciolek. But Mississippi tied things late in the frame on the power play, and the back-and-forth battle was on.
The second period was electric, with both teams trading punches figuratively and literally as Kaleb Melanson and Elias Thompson dropped the gloves tonight! Then Colby Audette gave the Sea Wolves a brief lead before Haggerty and Kuznetsov responded with back-to-back power play tallies, swinging momentum right back to the Zydeco. Mississippi would tie it again before the break with a goal from Sam Turner, setting up a tense third period where neither team could break through.
Then came the overtime moment. Off a slick feed from Haggerty—his third point of the night—and Kim Miettinen, Kuznetsov found space and snapped home the final goal of the Zydeco regular season on the back hand past Edward Coffee. It was his second of the game, and arguably the most important to date.
Between the pipes, Bailey Stephens earned his 13th win of the season, stopping 23 shots for a .885 save percentage. On the other end, Edward Coffee stood tall with a monster 62-save effort, but the workload was too much as his record dipped to 5-14-2.
With the victory, the Zydeco close the regular season on a high note and shift their focus to the postseason. Next stop: Wytheville, Virginia, where they'll battle the Blue Ridge Bobcats in a win-or-go-home single elimination playoff round.
The stage is set. The playoffs are here. Let the real fight begin.
Catch the playoff action on the Zydeco YouTube Channel!