New Jersey’s offense found their magic and Dylan Krick turned aside 21 of 22 shots as the Titans cruised over the Danbury Jr Hat Tricks 5-1 on Friday afternoon in the Hat City.
Captain Dominick Rivelli got New Jersey on the board just 3:33 into the game on an early 5 on 3 advantage for the Titans. For the UMass-Lowell commit, it was his team leading 18th goal of the season, assisted by Jack Hillier and Dominik Bartecko. Matej Teply made it 2-0 just over halfway through the second period for his 5th of the year, with Hillier picking up the lone helper. Ryan Friedman then connected on the power play with 2:40 to go in the frame to extend New Jersey’s lead to 3-0. Bartecko and Simon Becar got the assists on Friedman’s 9th of the season, and second in as many games.
Arhip Sidarovich made it 4-0 in the third on a skillful solo play, going upstairs for his 7th of the season. Krick’s shutout bid was broken with 5:40 to go, but Bartecko snuffed out any hope of a comeback just over a minute later for his 18th of the season, tying him with Dominick Rivelli once more for the team lead, and the Titans skated away with a 5-1 victory.
With the win, New Jersey improves to 23-19-3 on the season, drawing within 5 points of Johnstown for 4th place in the East Division. Next, the teams will hop on their busses and head south to the Garden State to complete the home and home series tomorrow, Saturday February 24th, for a 7:00pm start in Middletown.