A look at three positives from Wednesday's six-game slate.
A Player of the Week winner remains hot, while a team finally notched its first win. Six games on the ECHL’s Halloween Eve docket offered numerous top performances. Here are three.
Stinil Strikes Again
It’s hard to mention a Wichita Thunder performance lately without Michal Stinil’s name coming up repeatedly.
Last week, Stinil scored seven points to earn ECHL Player of the Week honors. He kept that momentum rolling on Wednesday, tallying two goals in Wichita’s thrilling 5-4 overtime victory in Allen over the Americans.
It didn’t start out well for the Thunder, as Allen jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Wichita finally got on the board late in the frame on a power-play goal to cut the deficit to 2-1.
After Will Gavin found the back of the net to increase Allen’s lead to 3-1 at 5:43 of the second, Stinil went to work. He whipped a shot from the right circle past Americans goalie Anson Thornton at the 7:16 mark of the second frame.
Just over three minutes later, Stinil struck again, this time taking a pass from Peter Bates and rifling a shot from the left faceoff dot to beat Thorton inside the near post. It was Stinil’s seventh goal of the season.
The two teams traded goals before going into overtime. Ryan Finnegan wanted his own piece of the action and netted the game-winner with just 12 seconds left in overtime for the 5-4 win. The Americans remain winless on the season, although they did earn a point in the loss to go 0-3-1.
Lions Earn First Victory
Trois-Rivieres picked up their first win of the season in a 4-2 triumph over the Reading Royals, who were beginning a four-game road swing.
The Lions (1-2-1) opened the scoring on a missile from the blueline by Jacob Paquette for his first of the season at 8:28.
Israel Mianscum extended the lead to 2-0 on a wrist shot past Royals goalie Parker Gahagen’s glove at the 6:38 mark of the second period.
After Parker AuCoin cut the Lions’ lead to 2-1 on a power play 16:38 into the second period, Tommy Cormier restored the Trois-Rivieres two-goal lead with his first professional goal 1:57 into the third.
Brock Caufield narrowed the gap to 3-2 on a one-timer from the left faceoff circle for his first goal as a Royal. But Mianscum netted his second goal and third point of the game with a wrister off an offensive zone draw.
Solar Bears Spooked By Ghost Pirates
OK, so it took a while to get in a Halloween reference. All good things come to those who wait.
The Savannah Ghost Pirates lived up to their name Wednesday against the Orlando Solar Bears, coming away with a 4-1 home victory at Enmarket Arena.
Reece Vitelli started the Ghost Pirate scoring at the 5:00 minute mark of the first period for a 1-0 lead. Then at 11:18 of the frame, Nicholas Zabaneh made the score 2-0 before Jack Adams cut into the margin at 6:33.
At 18:49 of the third period, Riley Hughes put the game out of reach with his third goal of the season for a 3-1 Savannah lead.
The Ghost Pirates netted their final tally on an empty-netter with 54 seconds left from Ross Armour, ensuring the 4-1 final.
Savannah ups its record to 3-1-1, while the Solar Bears drop to 2-2-1.