Lynx earn 8th consecutive home victory

Matus Kostur saw little action for most of the first period of Sunday's game between the Augusta Lynx and the Texas Wildcatters.

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The Lynx goalie faced just six shots in a period that his teammates dominated.

"That's the worst part of a hockey game," Kostur said, "when you don't have nothing to do."

The Wildcatters fired off 30 shots in the final two periods to get Kostur more involved, and his 35 saves and one assist helped Augusta beat Texas, 3-1, at Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center.

It was the Lynx's eighth straight home win, breaking the inaugural 1998 Augusta team's record of seven straight.

Augusta (24-28-7, 55 points) needs just one more win at home to tie Pensacola for the ECHL's longest home winning streak of the season.

"I think the big thing is teams just hate playing here," forward Matt Dzieduszycki said.

The Lynx began Sunday's game on the assault, peppering 22 first-period shots at Wildcatters goalie Davis Parley, who stopped 21. During a Texas line change, Kostur fired the puck to the neutral zone, where Jamie Johnson found Dzieduszycki breaking toward the net. He buried the puck to the far side for his 19th goal of the season.

"(Kostur) really got into the game when he got that assist on that goal by playing it up," Lynx coach Stan Drulia said. "I think that really fired Matus up."

Kostur saw an increase in action in his own net in the second period, with the Wildcatters (11-37-10) registering 18 shots compared with the Lynx's 10, but he managed to block all of them - including two big sliding stops during the final minute.

The Lynx regained their offensive strength in the third period, when they went back to the goal in which they scored during the first.

"The rink was tilted that way, I thought," Drulia joked.

After the Wildcatters tied the game 5 minutes, 55 seconds into the period, the Lynx scored two unanswered goals to finish out the game. Dzieduszycki got his fifth short-handed goal of the season when his attempted pass to Johnson went off a Texas defender and into the net for a 2-1 Lynx lead.

Forward Eric Johansson made the final 2 minutes a little more relaxing for the Lynx with his goal with 1:44 to go.

Augusta outshot Texas 17-12 in the final period.

Kostur (7-10-3) started in back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 8-9 when he picked up wins against Gwinnett and Louisiana.

It was the first time the Lynx's backup has started two in a row at home.

Reach Kristy Shonka at (706) 823-3216 or kristy.shonka@augustachronicle.com.