The New Jersey Titans continued their winning ways this past weekend in Long Beach, NY, defeating the Sharks on Saturday with a 5-0 shutout, before holding on for a 7-6 shootout victory on Sunday.
Avery Rovira manned the net for New Jersey on Saturday, and the teams were scoreless through the first 20 minutes of play. The offense would explode for the Titans in the second, scoring five goals to put the game out of reach on tallies from Lance Spencer’s first in the NA3HL, Lucas Carney, George Hinds, Grant Coykendall, and Payton Fobes. All five goals came in a span of 12:52, and would be the only goals scored in the game. Rovira stopped all 33 shots sent his way en route to his first shutout in the league.
Saturday’s game featured even more goals, with the Sharks getting on the board first. Zane Mazzola responded for New Jersey at 16:04 to send the teams into the locker room tied at 1 through 20 minutes of play. The Sharks would then score the next two goals, but offense from the Titans’ blue line in the form of goals from Dante Debueriis and Lucas Carney tied the game at 15:23. Long Beach would take the lead into the second intermission, however, courtesy of a goal scored with only 37 seconds to go in the period.
The third period would remain scoreless until Long Beach doubled their lead with 5:12 to go in the game. The Titans offense had to dig deep, but a second from Mazzola and a goal from Fobes just 34 seconds apart drew New Jersey even with under three minutes to play in regulation. Long Beach would find the back of the net again with 1:35 to go, but Zach O’Neil answered with under a minute remaining to send the game to overtime tied 6-6. The extra frame would not be enough, and in the shootout, captain Jacob Grey delivered the win for the Titans in the thrilling back and forth affair.
Riding a three game winning streak, the Titans are in 2nd place in the East Division, three points away from reigning at the top. The schedule gets busy ahead for the Titans, with games on Wednesday in Danbury, Friday and Saturday night in New Jersey against New Hampshire, and then a trip up to the Granite State for another two versus the Mountain Kings on Monday and Tuesday next week at the first NA3HL East Division Showcase. All games will be available to watch on NAHLtv.