Waco's Cory Evans buried a puck past Monroe goalie Marten Engren in sudden death of Saturday's shootout to boost the Wizards past the Moccasins 5-4 in the Snake Pit.

Evans' game-winner came shortly before Waco goalie Todd Laurin caused the puck to roll off Mocs defenseman Duncan Dalmao's stick as he tried to keep the game going. The Wizards, now 1-10-1 all-time against Monroe, won the shootout 3-2.

Both teams exploded offensively in the first period, combining for five goals, with the Mocs holding a 3-2 lead going into the first intermission.

Monroe jumped out quickly as Lukas Smital scored his third goal in two games off a feed from Bill McKay in front of the net.

Just as quickly, Waco answered. Mike Taylor fired a one-timer past Engren a minute later to tie the score.

Monroe again had an answer as center Darren Dougan, who was playing in his first game in more than a week after a grion injury, teamed up with Dorian Anneck on a 2-on-1 situation. Dougan skated in and took the shot but didn't get it past Laurin.

Anneck skated in and put the rebound in to give Monroe a 2-1 lead.

"The Cressman line has realy been playing well," Mocs coach Brian "Colonel" Curran said. "And Smital has come alive. We just need to get Dougan back healthy because he'll have a huge impact ... ."

The two teams then added power-play goals late in the first period from Wizards winger Ian Larocque and Dalmao for the 3-2 Monroe lead.

But Monroe went cold in the second period and the defense gave up some easy chances that Engren couldn't handle. Tony Cimellaro and Larocque put open chances past Engren to give Waco a 4-3 lead at the end of the second period.

The defensive breakdowns concerned Curran, who said Engren played a heck of a game but just didn't have much help.

"He madde some big saves, but we needed him to be bigger," Curran said. "Marten is a good goalie and made some fantastic saves, but he was not helped out by his defense. (Waco) was parked in front of the net and that will become a concern of mine if that continues to happen."

The Mocs responded to Curran's call in the third period as both teams combined for just seven total shots on goal. McKay rifled the puck off of the pad of Laurin to tie the game early in the period as both teams then worked the game into the shootout.