The New Jersey Titans were unable to overcome a three-goal deficit in a 5-2 loss to the Northeast Generals on Friday night at the New England Sports Village.
After going down 3-0, the Titans saw goals from Ryan Naumovski and Nick Boyagian to close the gap, but surrendered two more goals in the 3rd period for the 5-2 final score.
Colin Bilek recorded two of the Generals’ goals while David Fessenden made 36 saves on 38 shots for the win, while Titans goaltender Matt Ladd made 27 saves on 31 shots in the losing effort.
The Generals opened the scoring 4:53 in the 1st period when Luke Perunovich with a tip-in at the front of the goal on a nice passing play from Anthony Quatieri and Louis Boudon. Colin Bilek gave the Generals a 2-0 lead midway through the 2nd period.
Ryan Naumovski had a chance to get one back for the Titans on a penalty shot after he was hauled down on a breakaway by Justin Jallen, but Fessenden made the blocker save to keep New Jersey off the board. A few minutes later, Mike Egan tacked on another goal for Northeast as he converted on a two-on-one and beat Ladd glove side.
Down by three goals late in the 2nd period, the Titans notched a pair of goals to shrink the deficit to one. Naumovski picked up his fourth goal of the season by redirecting a shot past Fessenden on the power play at 12:50. Then, with 35 seconds left in the period, Boyagian took control of the puck in the low slot and ripped a shot five-hole to beat Fessenden. It was his fourth goal in as many games.
That was all the Titans were able to get, however, as they were unable to solve Fessenden in the 3rd period. Justin Jallen recorded his 9th goal of the season 6:40 into the period to give the Generals a two-goal lead. Colin Bilek scored his second of the game with an empty-netter with 53 seconds remaining in the game.
The Titans will hope to split the two-game set as they face the Generals again later today at 5:30. All of the action will be streamed on hockeytv.com.