Titans finish comeback, take weekend series in shootout vs. Johnstown.

Nov 22, 2015

JOHNSTOWN, Penn. – Put together cases of an emotional roller coaster and a good news, bad news situation and you’ll have the Titans’ Sunday matinee victory in Johnstown.

The Titans overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the Tomahawks in a shootout in Sunday’s matinee at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena.

On the down side, in overtime, Titans’ starting goaltender Jack Berry had to be pulled after he robbed the Tomahawks of the game-winning goal. He was forced to go side to side and pinned the puck between his pads at the last second. However, after he got up he was hunched over and tried to give it a go.

With the game on the line, Berry was pulled for the previous night’s winning goalie, Spencer Wright with a handful of minutes left in the overtime. It happened immediately following a missed opportunity to end it with a power play moments earlier.

It took five scoreless rounds before Andrew Durham snapped a laser past Johnstown goaltender Andrew Lindgren setting up a must score situation for Kelly O’Brien. Wright however turned aside a simple shot to seal it for the Titans.

For a while in the third period, it appeared that Johnstown was going to be able to hold off the Titans’ final assault. Instead, Darren Brady found himself on an odd man rush, took it to the net himself, then managed to score the equalizing goal.

Berry was back in net after giving up three goals on 38 shots in Friday night’s contest and looked like he was going to off to a shaky start. Dalton Hunter received an Alex Alger pass then snapped a shot from the right circle under Berry’s armpit and into the net.

Berry recovered and finished the first period with 10 saves and ultimately finished the game with 26 saves.

Then Hunter found a lane from behind the net, moving Berry side-to-side, and managed to sneak it through the five hole for a two goal Tomahawk lead.

The Titans looked like they would be heading into the second intermission trailing by that same margin, but got a late power play with under 30 seconds left in the second period. After some nifty and swift passing, Bruno Birzitis had the puck come to his stick. He then buried it for his fourth goal of the season at 19:39 of the period. Jesse Farabee was credited with the only assist on the play.

Despite the loss, the Titans remain three points ahead of the Aston Rebels who split their two-game weekend against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights. They are now 15-7-1 on the season.

The Titans will be back home the day after Thanksgiving, Friday, November 27 against the Knights.