Tomahawks, Knights win on Sunday

March 25, 2018

Johnstown 4 @ New Jersey 3 (OT) - In the final game of the weekend series, the Johnstown Tomahawks defeated the New Jersey Titans in overtime Sunday afternoon at Middletown Ice World.  At the 9:22 mark of the second period, the Tomahawks broke the ice first when Andy Nedeljkovic (assisted by Toby Sengvongxay and Andrew Quetell) scored his eighth of the season. A little over four minutes later, at the 13:37 mark, New Jersey's Wade Novak (assisted by Oliver MacDonald and Tyler Antonucci) scored his 13th of the year to tie the game at one. Johnstown answered back at 15:28, with Carson Briere (assisted by Christian Gorscak and Samuel Solensky) netting his 11th of the season on the power play. The Tomahawks went into the second intermission with the 2-1 lead. Gorscak (assisted by Ethan Webb) added to Johnstown's lead with his seventh of the year at the 6:12 mark of the third period. New Jersey would fight back, with Tyler Antonucci (assisted by Tate Singleton and Matthew Cameron) scoring his 20th of the year on the power play to cut the deficit to one at the 12:37 mark. They would then tie the game at 18:19 thanks to Tate Singleton scoring his second shorthanded goal of the weekend. Both teams were still tied at three at the end of regulation, so the game would need to be decided in overtime. Then, at the 3:30 mark of the extra period, Joe Kile (assisted by Solensky) would win it for the Tomahawks with his 17th of the season. Tomahawks goalie Kade Phipps picked up his second win of the weekend, making 34 saves, while Brandon Perrone made 42 saves in the OT loss. Boxscore

 

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 4 @ Northeast 2 – Sunday’s game was final meeting between the Generals and Knights in the 2017-18 regular season. A fast-moving first period provided a nearly even exchange of chances for either side. The Knights tested David Fessenden, Friday’s winning goalie for Northeast, with 12 first period shots. He stopped them all. David Tomeo, in net for the second-straight game for the Knights, likewise denied his former team on all 14 shots sent his way. Early in the 2nd period, the Generals would eventually cash in on a power play, when Matt Wiesner deflected a point shot. The Knights didn’t wait long to answer. On a power play of their own, Curtis Carlson slid a puck over to Tom Farrell, who found an open Mike Morrissey on the back circle, where the assistant captain ripped a puck by a Jack Olmstead-screened Fessenden to even the score at one. The Generals regained the lead as Justin Jallen found himself with space in front of Tomeo off slick feeds Colin McCabe and Brian Chambers. Jallen peppered a shot under the bar with such velocity that it utterly destroyed Tomeo’s water bottle. For their part, the Knights offense again rebounded swiftly. During a rare stretch of even play in the second, Jake Fuss flipped a bouncing puck to Tom Farrell on the right point. Farrell’s shot made its way into traffic in front of Fessenden, where Curtis Carlson found it and pushed it home to knot the game at 10:09. In the 3rd period with the score tied at 2-2, Gabe Temple and Reed Robinson converged on Fessenden, with the latter finding and slamming it by the massive goalie for the Knights first lead. Tyrone Bronte followed up Robinson’s goal with a key interception of the Generals last clearing effort on the major penalty. As the Generals man stepped out of the penalty box, Bronte threaded the turnover to a crashing Jack Olmstead, who put the puck through the pads of Fessenden to jump ahead 4-2. Tomeo’s 35 saves on 37 shots, gave him a 2-0 record on the weekend, with a sterling 70 saves on 73 shots.  Fessenden made 33 saves in the loss. Boxscore