Takeaways from a three-game Thursday slate in the ECHL.
Three games were on the ECHL schedule Thursday. Here are observations from each.
A 24-Karat Performance From Tahoe
Thursday night kicked off Affiliation Weekend for the
Tahoe Knight Monsters, ECHL affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Golden Monsters, as they will be known for this weekend, put on a 24-karat performance in a 3-1 victory over the Adirondack Thunder.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for Tahoe, who was 1-4-1 over their last six games.
Jake McGrew scored twice, Aidan Girduckis got his first ECHL goal, and Jordan Papirny dazzled in net.
The Golden Monsters controlled the first period, outshooting Adirondack 11-7 and grabbing a 1-0 lead when McGrew took a pass from Jake Johnson, outraced a defender and poked in a shot. It broke a scoring drought for McGrew, who hadn’t scored a goal since mid-January.
Girduckis fired in a shot from the top of the zone for a 2-0 Tahoe lead just under three minutes into the middle frame. Not only was it his first ECHL goal, but it eventually became the game-winner.
The Thunder’s only goal came early in the third, when TJ Friedmann cut the margin to 2-1. McGrew put the game out of reach with an insurance goal midway through the third for the 3-1 final.
Papirny, who came into Thursday tied for sixth in the ECHL with a .922 save percentage, stopped 29 of 30 shots to earn the victory. Tyler Brennan suffered the defeat for Adirondack, stopping 27 of 30 shots.
Oilers On a Roll
The tulsa Oilers won their fifth consecutive game Thursday with a 4-2 victory over the Utah Grizzlies at the BOK Center in Tulsa.
Conner Roulette scored twice for Tulsa, who moves to 26-13-6. The Grizzlies fall to 14-24-5.
The Oilers started the night leading the league with 36.02 shots per game, and went well above that by outshooting Utah 45-29.
It took the Oilers a while to get going, however, as Utah grabbed the early lead when Reed Lebster scored off a cross-circles feed at 3:49 of the opening period. Tulsa tied the contest 1-1 on a Sean Olson deflection at 11:39.
The Grizzlies jumped back in front over a minute later on an Andrew Nielsen tally, but that would ultimately be the final goal they would get past Tulsa netminder Vyacheslav Buteyets.
Roulette picked up the first of his two goals late in the middle frame to tie the game 2-2. It would be the sixth point in his last six games.
At 8:16 into the third period, Reid Petryk drove to the slot and went top-shelf for a 3-2 Tulsa lead. Roulette got his second of the night off a Mike McKee drop pass for the 4-2 final.
Ghost Pirates Dominate Lions
The Trois-Rivieres Lions didn’t look like the 28-7-5 team they were coming into Thursday, and Savannah didn’t play like a team with a 19-21-2 record.
The Ghost Pirates thoroughly outplayed Trois-Rivieres in a 6-2 home win. The Lions dug themselves an early hole by spending eight of the first 10 minutes in the penalty box. Surprisingly, they were the ones who got on the board first, as Alex Beaucage tallied a shorthanded goal at the 9:24 mark.
Any thoughts of Trois-Rivieres taking that momentum into the second period completely vanished. Savannah scored two goals in the first five minutes of the frame, and the Lions managed only 10 shots on opposing netminder Evan Cormier.
It could have been worse, as the Ghost Pirates only held a 2-1 lead heading into the final frame. Tommy Cormier gave his team some brief hope by tying the score 2-2 at the 1:33 mark of the final period, but then the roof caved in.
Savannah scored four unanswered goals, including two from Patrick Guay, to seal the 6-2 victory.