Tahoe Knight Monsters Take Down Mavericks In Afternoon Home Contest

The Kansas City Mavericks boasted the best road record in the ECHL last season and had won six of their first seven away from home in 2024-25. They hoped to continue that trend in Stateline, Nev. for their first-ever meeting with the Tahoe Knight Monsters.

It was not to be on this day. The Knight Monsters proved inhospitable guests on a School Day game at Tahoe Blue Event Center, prevailing 4-1 over the Mountain Division-leading Mavericks.

Tahoe applied pressure early, getting the first four shots on goal before the Mavericks picked up the pace to outshoot them 8-7 in a scoreless first period. Kansas City had two power-play opportunities but couldn’t muster a goal despite several quality chances.

The second period saw the Knight Monsters take control. They outshot Kansas City 14-2 in the first half of the frame before Luke Adam finally broke the ice at 5:12 with a wrister from the far side faceoff dot to put Tahoe ahead 1-0. Patrick Newell and Logan Nelson picked up assists.

Nate Kallen added a wrist shot of his own to increase the lead midway through the second period, with a helper from Anthony Collins. It was just the third goal scored by a Tahoe defenseman at home this season.

Collins would take two consecutive penalties near the end of the period, but the Mavericks could not capitalize on either power-play.

Brad Schoonbaert, Nolan Sullivan and Pascal Laberge each had high-quality chances in the period to get the Mavericks on the scoreboard, but Tahoe goalie Jordan Papirny proved up to the task on each shot.

Collins lit the lamp for his first goal of the season at 2:09 of the third period with an assist from Adam Pitters to give the Knight Monsters a 3-0 lead.

Damien Giroux broke the scoring drought for the Mavericks with his third goal of the season after a beautiful setup by Luke Loheit at the 12:24 mark of the third period, and the Mavericks cut the deficit to 3-1.

Artur Cholach dashed the Mavericks’ hopes of mounting a rally two minutes later by adding an insurance goal off a rebound with helpers from Brennan Kapcheck and Nelson for the 4-1 final.

Papirny was outstanding in goal for Tahoe, stopping 32 of the 33 shots he faced. His performance followed a 36-save shutout last week against the Tulsa Oilers. Victor Ostman turned away 24 of 28 shots.

The Knight Monsters snapped a two-game losing skid and moved into third place in the Mountain Division, improving their record to 6-3-2. The Mavericks drop to 8-4-1.

The two teams will square off again on Friday and Saturday in Stateline to finish out the three-game series. It’s a chance for the Knight Monsters to win game 2 of a series, something they failed to do on previous occasions against Idaho and Tulsa. The Mavericks, no doubt, will have a thing or two to say about that.