Joe Harney scored with eleven seconds remaining in overtime to give the Titans an improbable 5 – 4 come-from-behind victory over the visiting Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks after the Red Buckets were trailing in the game 4 – 0.
With the win the Titans now trail first place Maryland by only seven points with twenty games remaining in the regular season.
Mt. Laurel, NJ native Andrew Eberling took a wrist shot from the slot that beat Titans netminder Marino Ramirez low glove side at 8:17 into the opening period to give Danbury a 1 – 0.
After a Titans turnover in their own zone, the Tricks’ Wyatt Stefan scored a minute later to make it 2 – 0.
Stefan scored his second goal of the game when he took a wrist shot from the slot that beat Ramirez high, blocker side to make it 3 – 0 with 2:54 remaining in the first period.
Zak Brice replaced Ramirez at the start of the second, but it was an auspicious start for the native of Fairbanks, AK when Danbury won the draw deep inside the Titans zone, and the Tricks’ Logan Furstenau deked around Brice and deposited the puck into the back of the net just five minutes into the middle stanza to give the visitors a 4 – 0 lead.
The Titans then began the improbable come back by scoring four unanswered goals to tie the game beginning with 8:46 remaining in the second when Anthony Calafiore scored on a one-timer that beat Tricks goalie Karlis Mezsargs to make it 4 – 1. It was Calafiore’s fifteenth goal of the season.
At 6:21 into the third period, Danbury’s Logan Nickerson was called for slashing to give the Titans the man advantage. Twenty-eight seconds later Dominik Bartecko took a wrist shot from the top of the far side faceoff dot that beat Mezsargs to cut the Titans deficit in half. It was Bartecko’s twelfth goal of the season.
Twenty seconds after Bartecko scored, Danbury’s Ivan Korodiuk was called for the slashing to put the Titans back on the powerplay. At 7:50 of the third, Ben Muthersbaugh received a cross-ice pass from Barkecko and Muthersbaugh took a one-timer that beat Mezsargs short side to make it a 4 – 3 game.
With the puck in the offensive zone and Brice pulled for the extra attacker, Brendan Dumas took a wrist shot from in close that beat Mezsargs long side to tie the game at four with fifty-one seconds remaining in regulation to send it into overtime.
As time was winding down in the extra period and it appeared that the game was going to a shootout, Joe Harney beat Mezsargs with eleven seconds remaining to give the Titans a 5 – 4 victory.
Ramirez and Brice 12 of 16 shots while Mezsargs – who was outstanding throughout the game – turned aside 58 of 63 shots. Click here for the complete box score.
The teams will meet again tonight at 7:00PM in game two of this two-game series.