Anthony Calafiore scored the game winner in a shootout last night as the visiting New Jersey Titans defeated the Johnstown Tomahawks in this first of two-game weekend series.
Nick Ring got the Titans on the board at 5:27 into the first period. With play behind the Johnstown net, the puck went through the goalmouth and off the skate of Tomahawks’ defenseman Billy Simms and right to Ring in the slot. Ring took a wrist shot that beat Johnstown netminder Tommy Heaney high glove side for Ring’s third goal of the year.
The Red Buckets doubled their lead with 1:10 remaining in the opening period. Tyler Sanborn set up the play at his own blueline on a delayed Tomahawks penalty. Sanborn passed it up to Ring at center ice who immediately passed it over to Levente Keresztes on his left. As Keresztes gained the line, he passed it up to Michael Young. As Young reach the bottom of the far side faceoff circle, he took a sharp angle shot that beat Heaney shot side for Young’s fifth goal of the season.
The Tomahawks scored just twenty seconds into the second period to cut their deficit in half. Johnstown’s Jacob Badal wrapped the puck around the far side boards and behind the net where Titans netminder Andrew Takacs went to play the puck. As Takacs went to make an outlet pass slightly to the left of his cage, the puck hit off the shinpad of Johnstown’s Sean Ramsay and to Badal in the slot and Badal buried the biscuit into the empty net for his fifth goal of the season.
Badal was called for boarding at 6:25 into the third period to give the Titans the man advantage. A minute and ten seconds later, the Red Buckets gave up their fourth shorthanded goal allowed. Johnstown’s Zachary Murray blocked Young’s shot from the point and then made a backhanded pass to a breaking Stephen Kyrkostas. As Kyrkostas skated down the far side boards and into the offensive zone, he cut across the goalmouth and beat Takacs through the five hole to tie the game at two.
As regulation ended tied, it went into five-minute overtime that also concluded scoreless forcing the shootout. After Johnstown’s Ramsay tied the shootout, Calafiore, who was the sixth Titan in the shootout, beat Heaney to give the Red Buckets the lead. Then Takacs stopped the Tomahawks’ David Matousek to give the Titans the win.
Takacs turned aside 27 of 29 shots in the win while Heaney stopped 33 of 35 in defeat. Click here for the box score.
The two teams will play again tonight at 7:00PM at the War Memorial.