Game Preview: Titans on the road with a matinee against WBS Knights

Dec 11, 2019

The Titans will travel to the Revolution Ice Centre this morning to play a matinee game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights at 2:00 PM.

Titans and Knights Overview
This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams this season. Two of the games have been played at the Ice Center while the other was played at the Middletown Sports Complex. The Titans have won all three games by a combined score of 16 – 8. The last time these teams played was back on November 2 when Mitch Machlitt hit the back of the net with 2:31 left in overtime to give New Jersey a 4 – 3 win.

Tyrone Bronte (2 goals and assists) and Lincoln Hatten (all assists) each have four points against the Titans while Bronte and Nikita Asylaev each have two goals. The Knights are one for one on the power play. WBS’ netminders have a combined .851 save percentage and 5.33 goals against average.

Matt Cameron leads the Titans with four points (3 goals and 1 assist) against the Knights. He also has scored the most goals (three). The Titans are 3 for 6 (50%) on the power play. Goaltenders Patrick Pugliese and Arseni Sergeev have a combined .923 save percentage and 2.66 goals against average.

Knights Overview
The Knights are currently tied for third place in the East Division with a 12-11-2-1 record for 27 points (14 points behind the division leading Titans). WBS is 3 – 7 in their last ten games, and they are coming off a 4 – 0 road loss to the Maine Nordiques. The Knights have scored 77 goals (fourteenth in the league) while they have allowed 88 (also fourteenth in the league). WBS leads the league on the power play having converted on 31.5% of their chances with the man advantage while they are last in the league on the penalty kill by preventing the opposition from converting on 64.9% on their chances.

WBS is led by Hatten in every category: points (14 goals and 19 assists); goals (14); game winning goals (four); +/- +18 and penalty minutes (78).

The Knights goaltenders have a combine 3.24 goals against average and .895 save percentage with one shutout.

Titans Overview
The Titans currently lead the East Division with a 20-4-0-1 record for 41 points. New Jersey has won seven of its last ten games, and they are coming off of a 4 – 2 road win against the Johnstown Tomahawks.  They have scored 119 goals (most in the league) and have allowed 75 (eleventh in the league). The Titans are second in the league on the power play having converted on 30.9% of their chances while they have prevented the opposition from scoring on the penalty kill 85.4% of the time (eighth best in the league).

Machlitt leads the team in total points with thirty-five (17 goals and 18 assists) and goals (17). Michael Outzen has a team best four game winning goals. Cade Penney and Machlitt have a team best +/- with a +19 while Kyler Head and Mac Wiseman have a time high thirty-two penalty minutes each.

The goaltending tandem of Pugliese (2.71 GAA and .916 SV%) and Sergeev (3.14 GAA and .911 SV%) have a combined 2.89 goals against average and .911 save percentage with one shutout (Pugliese).