Echoing last night’s game, the New Jersey Titans let another 2-0 slip away as they lost to the Maryland Black Bears by a score of 6-3 Saturday night at the Piney Orchard Ice Arena in Odenton, Maryland.
While it took longer than last night, again Kristofers Krumins got the Titans on the board first with his 10th of the season at the 9:25 mark of the first period. Ryan Novo picked up the lone assist on the Latvian’s third goal in his last four games since rejoining New Jersey from national team duty at the World Junior Championships. Following the similar script, Dominik Bartecko made it 2-0 less than 2 minutes into the 2nd period moments after a power play expired with his 14th of the season, assisted by Princeton commit Nikita Meshcheryakov.
However, like last night, the Black Bears would come back. Starting 43 seconds after the Bartecko goal, the Black Bears would score three times in a span of 3 minutes and 47 seconds to seize a 3-2 lead. Head Coach Craig Doremus called his timeout to stanch the bleeding, and the Titans would draw even at 15:13 when Jack Hillier found the back of the net to tie the game at 3-3. Kai Elkie picked up the lone helper on the Sacred Heart commit’s 7th of the season.
With a tied game to enter the third period, the Titans were in a prime position to head home with a weekend split. It was not meant to be, as Maryland scored 3:49 into the 3rd to take a lead they would not relinquish. A power play goal seven minutes later put the game out of reach, and an insurance marker just over a minute later provided the exclamation mark, sending New Jersey to their third consecutive loss.
Now on a three game skid, the Titans remain in 6th place in the East Division with a record of 19-17-2. While New Jersey has three games in hand, they are in danger of slipping out of a playoff position with the New Hampshire Mountain Kings now only 3 points behind them. The Titans will look to get back into the winning column with a midweek matchup against the Danbury Jr Hat Tricks on Wednesday, January 31st, at 7:30pm.