River Kings edge Blazers for 1-0 lead

The Blazers lost the game but appeared to gain confidence Thursday night in their Central Hockey League playoff opener.

Though Memphis won 3-2 before 5,407 fans at the Ford Center, the Blazers seemed eager to get to Memphis, where they'll play the River Kings again tonight.

"We'll be fine,” Blazers coach Doug Sauter said. "If we score on our chances, we'll beat 'em. That's a big if.”

The Blazers' defining moment came with 6:38 left in the game. After Garrett Prosofsky's slapshot hit a goalpost, Chad Hinz's shot did the same.

"Tomorrow they're going in, and I think we'll do fine,” the veteran Hinz said after his first CHL playoff game. "We had a ton of chances. Half those chances go in and we're looking good.”

Ryan Watson, the left winger on the Hinz line, scored a goal that gave the Blazers their only lead, 2-1 with 15:19 left in the second period. But Watson also hit a goalpost at least once.

"I'd say at least four or five of our shots hit the post,” Watson said. "We would have won if we would have buried our chances. We've got to do better tomorrow.”

The Blazers seem to think they will do just that, when the series moves to Southaven, Miss.

"I thought we outplayed 'em,” Sauter said. "I thought we beat 'em in every department except on the scoreboard, the most important part.”

The Blazers had 30 shots on goal, eight more than Memphis, but River Kings goaltender Larry Sterling made some sensational stops.

"You create that many scoring chances, you're doing something right,” Hinz said. "Then again, we've got to bear down and put them in the net. But I don't think we're really worried about it.”

All of the scoring came in the second period.

Memphis scored first, only 2:33 into the second, when Derek Campbell netted his sixth goal in nine games against Oklahoma City.

The Blazers scored 24 seconds later, when Dallas Flaman scored a power play goal. Ryan Watson scored 1:44 later.

Watson, on his stomach in front of the crease, somehow backhanded in a score that gave the Blazers a 2-1 lead.

Memphis regained the lead, 3-2, by scoring the final two goals in the second period. Travis Banga banged in his sixth goal against the Blazers, an extra-attacker score at 14:30.

With 38.4 seconds left in the period, Louis Dumont scored a power play goal from a steep angle to the goaltender's right.

"We had good chances, we worked hard, we had good hits,” Sauter said. "I liked everything except the final score.”