The visiting New Jersey Titans used a balanced scoring attack to defeat the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks to sweep the two-game series
As Phil Doucette and Brandon Avezov entered the offensive zone on a 2-on-1, Doucette fed Avezov with a nice feed but Avezov’s redirect was saved by Danbury’s netminder Alex Fernandes but the deep rebound came right out to Haigley at the slot and the Cockeysville, MD native one-timed it into the open net to give that Titans a 1 – 0 lead at 6:43 into the opening period.
Twenty-four seconds later Hat Tricks forward Nate Mastrony was called for interference to give the Titans the man advantage. A minute later Avezov doubled the Titans lead. As Haigley went behind the Danbury net he tried a centering pass out front, but it blocked by a Hat Tricks defending and the loose puck came out to Doucette at the bottom of the near side faceoff circle. Doucette made a backhand centering pass to Avezov took a wrist shot that beat Fernandes blocker side to give the Titans a 2 – 0 lead.
The Hat Tricks would score two consecutive goals to tie the game. After Nick Byron’s penalty expired, Danbury’s Brandon Cope set up behind the Titans net. Cope sent the puck to Connor Lefkof at the far side faceoff dot. Lefkof took a shot that was saved by New Jersey goaltender Ethan Kavanaugh, but the rebound came out to Luke Dube who tucked in the rebound to make it a 2 – 1 game.
Doucette took a hooking penalty just fifty-four seconds into the second period. A minute later the Hat Tricks tied it. After the Titans dumped the puck into the Danbury zone, Fernandes passed the puck to Lefkof behind his own goal. Lefkof passed the puck up to Cope along the far side half wall. Cope skated through the neutral zone and into the Titans end. As Cope reached the top of the faceoff circle, he took a wrist shot that be Kavanaugh long side to make it a 2 – 2 game.
The Titans didn’t wilt.
At 4:24 of the middle stanza the Titans reclaimed the lead for good. Avezov picked up the loose puck at center ice and entered the offensive zone. As he reached the bottom of the faceoff circle, he made a centering pass out front to Nick Byron who redirected the puck past Fernandes to make it a 3 – 2 game.
Danbury was called for delay of game at 6:11 to give the Titans a man advantage. Twenty-two seconds later Bell doubled the New Jersey lead. After Bell picked up the loose puck in the near side corner, he skated behind the Danbury net and passed the puck back to Driscoll at the point. After a couple of return passes between the two, Bell skated to the far side faceoff dot and took a wrist shot that beat Fernandes shot side to give the Titans a 4 – 2 lead.
The Titans took a 5 – 2 on a very strange goal. As the puck went to the end boards behind the Danbury net, Jr. Hat Tricks defenseman Bryce Wallace picked up the loose puck and tried to send it back to the far side corner. It was intercepted by Kyle O’Neill who simply shot the puck on net to the blocker of Fernandes and the puck found a whole and slid into the net.
With time winding down in the game and Fernandes pulled for the extra attacker, Kavanaugh made a point blank save and the rebound when into the far side corner and Driscoll sent the puck the distance of the ice into the empty net to close out the scoring with 3:04 left in the game.
Fernandes stopped 23 of 28 shots while Kavanaugh turned aside 36 of 38. Click here for the box score.
The Titans next game will be played on Wednesday, October 21 against the Long Beach Sharks.