Lobsters Bring the Beads, Bury Baton Rouge 7–3

Lobsters Bring the Beads, Bury Baton Rouge 7–3

BATON ROUGE, LA. - The Athens Rock Lobsters defeated the Baton Rouge Zydeco 7-3 Friday night at the Raising Cane’s River Center.

Athens got out in front early, with Dustin Perillat bulging the back of the net with a pop in front of the left circle just 1:10 into the contest.

In the goal-scoring form of his career, Carter Shinkaruk doubled the lead eight minutes later with ninth goal of 2026 and 18th goal of the season. The Crustacean captain tickled the twine from distance.

A pair of goals from Joe Mack made it 4-0 in the first period for the Rock Lobsters; Mack found himself on hat trick watch n the same building where the Michigan native logged his first professional trifecta back on Jan. 3. 

Narek Aleksanyan was able to cut the deficit to three before the first intermission on a beautiful wraparound move with 2:10 left in the first period.

Getting in on the action in the second period, John Kaljian wristed in his first Athens goal on the rush at the 13:58 mark.

The 6-1 advantage came minutes later, when Gleb Bandurkin lifted in his own rebound with nearly his whole body behind the goal. 

The Russian doubled his tally in the third, finishing off a tic-tac-toe move between he, Eric Neiley and Jesse Lowell.

Parks Owensby came into the crease in relief of Carter McPhail for his first minutes as a Rock Lobster this year; both goalies combined for 35 saves on the night.

The Zydeco struck late through Aleksanyan’s second of the night and a notch from Tyler Larwood, but the push came too late from the hosts.

The Rock Lobsters (25-7-6-0, 87 pts) return to the Raising Cane’s River Center tomorrow night at 8:05 p.m. EST to finish off the weekend and season series against the Baton Rouge Zydeco.