Dominik Bartecko had a pair of goals and five other players scored to lead the Titans to a 7 – 3 win over the visiting Northeast Generals in game one of this two-game series.
Northeast’s Jacob Kaminski was called for tripping at 3:14 into the game. A minute and a half later Bartecko gave the Titans a 1 – 0 lead. As Ryan Novo brought the up into the offensive zone near the far size boards, he passed it to Ben Muthersbaugh on his left. Muthersbaugh skated towards the top of the near side faceoff circle, turned and sent the biscuit back to Joe Harney at the top of point. Harney immediately passed the puck to Bartecko who skated to the far side faceoff dot and took a wrist shot that beat Northeast goalie Toby Hopp high glove side for his first goal of the game.
Owen Luik was called for holding at 7:48 of the first period to give Northeast the man advantage. A minute and a half later Northeast’s Jake LaRusso took a wrist shot from the top of the near side faceoff circle that beat Titans netminder Zak Brice high glove slide to even the score at one. It was LaRusso’s eighth goal of the season against his former teammates.
The Titans regained the lead with 4:13 remaining in the first off the stick of Luik. Michael Young picked up the loose puck in his own far side corner and passed it to Brian Robertson in the slot. Robertson skated through center ice and into the offensive zone along the near side boards. As Robertson gained the like, he started to skate around the bottom of the faceoff circle and made a centering pass out front to Luik who took a wrist shot that went off the far side post and past Hopp and into the net for Luik’s fourth goal of the season.
The Titans made it 3 – 1 at 10:49 of the second period when Michael Young scored a powerplay goal. After the Titans won the draw deep inside the Generals zone, the puck went back to Eric Charpentier at the far side point. “Charps” passed it over to Young at the top of the near side faceoff circle and the Princeton commit took a wrist shot that beat Hopp high blocker side for his 25th goal of the season.
Northeast cut it to 3 – 2 with 7:35 remaining in the period when Tyler Ramm picked up a juicy rebound left off the stick of Brice and Ramm wristed the puck past Brice for his fourth goal of the season.
The Titans reclaimed a two-goal lead with 5:37 left in the middle stanza when Bartecko scored his second goal of the game when he took a wrist shot that went off the near side post, the cross bar and over the shoulder of Hopp for Bartecko’s fourteenth goal of the season.
Novo made it 5 – 2 at 6:58 into the third period, and then Ramm scored his second goal of the game to make it 5 – 3 with 3:42 remaining in the game. Just nineteen seconds later Joe Harney made it 6 – 3. Muthersbaugh scored with a minute and a half left in the game to close out the scoring and make it 7 – 3.
Brice turned aside 21 of 24 shots while Hopp stopped 32 of 39. Click here for the complete box score.
The Titans will close out the home portion of their 2022-23 regular season this evening with game two of this two-game series against the Generals.