GAME 6 PREVIEW: BATON ROUGE KINGFISH AT STOCKTON THUNDER

KINGFISH OPEN ROAD TRIP IN STOCKTON

The Baton Rouge Kingfish begin a seven-game road trip tonight against the Stockton Thunder at Adventist Health Arena.

It's game one of a two-game series and the first all-time meeting between the two first-year franchises. 

The Kingfish and Thunder will rematch tomorrow night in Stockton before Baton Rouge continues its California swing against the Fresno Falcons on Nov. 6-7.  

BROADCAST COVERAGE

Kingfish Pregame at 8:55 p.m.

Streaming: Free-to-watch video on YouTube at
www.youtube.com/@BatonRougeKingfish 

LAST TIME OUT

A four-point (2g, 2a) outing from Jake Cox led the Baton Rouge Kingfish past the Mid-South Monarchs, 5-2, last Sunday afternoon at Raising Cane's River Center in the final game of a three-in-three series. 

The Monarchs scored the opening goal on the powerplay five minutes into the game, but that would prove to be Mid-South's first and last lead of the afternoon. Cox tied it up, 1-1, on a one-timer from the right circle at 8:28. Four minutes later, Nick Ketola slipped through a wrist shot from the right point to stake Baton Rouge out to a 2-1 lead. 

In the middle frame, the Kingfish tacked on two more. Ketola found Jason Brancheau on a two-on-one to put the Fish ahead by a pair at 4:34. Cox wired in his second tally of the day seven minutes later to make it 4-1.

The Monarchs got one goal closer early in the third period, but Ed Coffey stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced to erase any hope of a Mid-South comeback. Cox collected his fourth point of the day with two minutes remaining in the third period, assisting on an empty-netter by Tyler Williams. 

Nick Ketola recorded three points (1g, 2a) for the Kingfish. Brancheau (1g, 1a) notched his third multi-point game and second game-winning goal of the season. 

With the victory, Baton Rouge (6pts) moves into a tie with Mid-South for the top spot in the Delta Division. 

COXY'S CAREER DAY

Forward Jake Cox earned first-star honors for his four-point (2g, 2a) performance last Sunday. It was the first four-point game of his professional career.  

Cox leads the Kingfish with eight points this season -- seven of the eight have come on home ice.

The Southern New Hampshire University product is in his fifth pro season and fourth campaign in Baton Rouge.

WILLY's WAY

Tyler Williams bagged three points (2g, 1a) in last weekend's three-in-three against Mid-South. The third-year forward is the only Kingfish skater to register a point in each of the club's first five games. 

Williams, 26, played the first two years of his professional career with the SPHL's Knoxville Ice Bears, where he was teammates with head coach Jimmy Soper. 

ROAD TRIPPIN'

Tonight is the first game of a seven-game road trip for the Kingfish -- their second-longest of the season. 

Baton Rouge faces Stockton tonight and tomorrow, Fresno twice next weekend and Binghamton Nov. 13-15.

When they return home from Binghamton, the team will have logged over 7,000 miles to play the seven games.

SCOUTING THE THUNDER

Stockton enters tonight's contest 2-1-1 (5pts) and in fourth place in the Frontier Division. The Thunder played just one game last week -- a road loss, 8-4, to Fresno on Saturday -- because Friday night's home game against the Falcons was postponed due to unplayable ice conditions at Adventist Health Arena.

 Veteran forward Petr Panacek leads the Thunder in goals (4) and points (7). Panacek has recorded three multi-point performances in four games, including three points (2g, 1a) last Saturday in Fresno.

Defenseman Gehrig Lindberg leads the club with five assists. He recorded four of them in a win, 6-3, over Oceanside on Oct. 18. 

In the crease, rookie Will Augustine (1-1-1/4.66/.887) has started three of Stockton's first four games.