The visiting New Jersey Titans scored early and often as they routed the Northeast Generals 7 – 2 last night at the New England Sports Village.
Brad Zona set the tone of the game just 2:02 into it with his first goal of the season. At the top of the far side blueline Zona sent the puck up along the end boards behind the Generals net where it was picked up by Kyler Head in the near side corner. Head sent a pass back to Cam Gendron who skated around the faceoff circle and passed the puck to a breaking Zona at the top of the slot. Zona took a wrist shot that beat Northeast’s goaltender Arttu Ruotsalainen glove side to make it a 1- 0 game.
New Jersey took a 2 – 0 lead at 6:44 of the opening period on Josef Glamos’ first goal of the season. After the Titans chipped the puck into the Generals near side corner, Northeast’s Joe Nagle retrieved it and passed it behind his own net to Cam Gaudette in the far side corner. Gaudette tried to clear the puck up off the boards but it was intercepted by Tyler Nasca at the point. Nasca took a shot on net that Glamos redirected out front and through Ruotsalainen’s five hole.
A minute and a half later the Generals cut the Titans lead in half.
Northeast’s Charlie Reid chipped the puck into the Titans zone as defenseman Cade Penney and the Generals Joe Mancuso chased after it. Mancuso beat Penney to the puck and skated along the near side boards and into the Titans corner. Mancuso found a wide-open Ricky Boysen in the slot who took a one-timer that was saved by Arseni Sergeev but Boysen picked up his own rebound and put it behind Sergeev to make it a 2 – 1 game.
Just fifty-one seconds into the second period, Northeast’s Clark Kerner was called for holding to give the Titans the man advantage. With time running out on the powerplay and Brody Medeiros with the puck at the top of blueline, Medeiros sent a drop pass to Jeffers as he entered the zone. As Jeffers skated to the top of the near side faceoff circle, he took a wrist shot that beat Ruotsalainen short side to give the Titans a two-goal lead.
A minute later it was 4 – 1 Titans.
With the puck in the Titans zone, Head chipped the puck off the far side boards and into center ice. Head picked up the puck along the board and skated towards the faceoff dot. Head made a centering pass to Jake LaRusso who redirected the puck past Ruotsalainen for his first goal on the season.
After a timeout, Joey Stanizzi replaced Ruotsalainen between the pipes.
With 9:35 left in the second, Jeffers scored his second goal of the game. As Northeast’s Cade Destefani tried to set up inside the Titans zone, Tyler Nielsen intercepted Destefani’s pass at the top of the slot and head manned the puck up to Jeffers in the neutral zone. As Jeffers entered the offensive zone along the far sideboards on a two-on-one with Nielsen, he used Nielsen as a decoy and took a wrist shot that beat Stanizzi high glove side to give New Jersey a 5 – 1 lead.
The Generals cut the lead to 5 – 2 with 2:23 into the third. On a delayed Titans penalty, Northeast’s Michael Heneghan skated out of his own zone and passed it over to Dylan Schuett who was at the far side blue line. As Schuett skated to the top of the faceoff circle he passed it to Gerard Marretta breaking on his right. Marretta went to the goalmouth and chipped in a backhanded shot past Sergeev’s glove hand and into the net for his fourth goal of the season.
A minute and a half later Matt Cameron gave the Titans a four-goal lead. With the Generals trying to breakout of their own zone, Cameron intercepted a clearing pass at the top of the near side faceoff circle. As he skated towards the net, the Berwyn, PA native took a wrist shot that beat Stanizzi short side to make it a 6 – 2 game.
Nielsen would close out the scoring with a one-timer off a Jeffers pass. Jeffers had a four point game.
Ruotsalainen and Stanizzi combined to stop 25 of 32 shots while Sergeev turned aside 30 of 32. Click here for box score.
The two teams will be back at it tonight at 7:00PM at the New England Sports Village.