Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

New Mexico's Craig McDonald (right) fights Laredo's Jame Hiebert as Konrad Reeder (bottom) ensures no one else joins the skirmish. The Scorpions won when they had to, beating the Bucks 3-1 on Friday night at home to avoid falling into a 3-0 hole in the Southern Conference finals.

Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

New Mexico's Craig McDonald (right) fights Laredo's Jame Hiebert as Konrad Reeder (bottom) ensures no one else joins the skirmish. The Scorpions won when they had to, beating the Bucks 3-1 on Friday night at home to avoid falling into a 3-0 hole in the Southern Conference finals.

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Goaltender David Cacciola's Game 3 performance has the Scorpions breathing again.

After dropping its first two playoff games against defending-champion Laredo, New Mexico is in position to tie the series 2-2 with a win tonight at home.

Cacciola was nearly perfect Friday night for the Scorpions in a must-win Game 3, shutting down the Bucks in a 3-1 victory that gave the Scorps their first win of the series after dropping two straight in Laredo.

"That's the kind of goaltending you have to have (in the playoffs)," head coach Ray Edwards said. "We're not deep enough or experienced enough to get by with mediocre goaltending."

Last season, Cacciola proved his worth as a clutch goaltender with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs. In 11 games, Cacciola posted a record of 8-3 with one shutout and led the circuit in just about every other statistical category. More importantly, he led the Mudbugs to a 4-1 series victory over the regular-season champion Colorado Eagles before giving way to Central Hockey League legend Ken Carroll in the championship series against Laredo.

So far this postseason, Cacciola has struggled to regain his playoff form from a year ago. He has managed a modest 4-4 record and his goals-against and save percentage numbers rank in the bottom half of playoff goaltenders. Still, Cacciola has found a way to stop the puck when it really counts.

"Personally, I feel like I've been underperforming a bit so far in these playoffs," Cacciola said. "I knew I had to bring my A-game tonight. We certainly didn't want to go down three games to none."

Cacciola turned away scoring chance after scoring chance as the Scorpions continued their playoff run. Cacciola's most important save may have come early on the in the first period, when reigning playoff MVP Jeff Bes was awarded a penalty shot after being hauled down on a breakaway. At the time, the Scorpions were clinging to a 1-0 lead.

"I knew that if they scored, that was a huge momentum change for them," Cacciola said. "I was fortunate enough to get a good read on him at about the blue line and I just tried to be patient."

On the offensive side, diminutive forward Konrad Reeder continued his torrid playoff run with his ninth goal of the postseason, extending his point streak to five games and increasing his league-leading point total to 25. The Scorps also got a power-play goal from late-season acquisition Jeremy Garrison and added some insurance on an empty-net goal from captain Rob Guinn.

Laredo's Chris Korchinski spoiled Cacciola's shutout bid with 61 seconds remaining in the third on a quick wrist shot from the right circle.

"It's nice to get a win and know that we can beat these guys," Edwards said. "Still, we're looking at the defending President's Cup champions over there. We have a lot of work to do here to even up the series."