ECHL Friday Five: An All-American Natural Hatty, Expansion Team Blanks Nailers

An Allen Americans natural hat trick and an expansion team shutting out one of the top teams in the ECHL highlighted another thrilling Friday around the league.

Let’s dive into this week’s Friday Five top performers.

It was a magical night at the Credit Union of Texas Center in Allen.

Not only was it Teddy Bear Toss night, but the Americans’ Danny Katic also treated the fans to a natural hat trick in Allen’s 5-3 victory over the Tulsa Oilers. Katic also earned an assist for four points on the evening.

The win was Allen’s fourth straight, and the club has taken the first two games of their series against the Oilers.

With the Americans trailing 2-1 in the second period, Katic scored his first goal of the night two minutes into the frame.

Katic continued his tear by beating Oilers goalie Vyacheslav Buteyets from distance with a wrister to give the Americans their first lead of the game with 13:22 remaining in the third period.

The Belleville Senators-contracted forward finished his natural hat trick with the eventual game-winning goal just 1:22 later for a 4-2 advantage.

Brayden Watts put the game out of reach with an empty-net goal at the 18:18 mark — his team-leading 10th goal of the season, assisted by Katic.

The Wheeling Nailers outshot the expansion Greensboro Gargoyles 34-15 at First Horizon Coliseum. Problem was, they couldn’t score a goal against netminder Ruslan Khazheyev.

Khazheyev denied all 34 shots he faced, while the Gargoyles scored twice in a span of 30 seconds in the first period of what turned out to be a 3-0 win over the Nailers, who have dropped two straight games for the first time this season.

Wheeling controlled the majority of the play during the first period with a 12-6 shots advantage. However, the visitors found themselves trailing on the scoreboard, as the Gargoyles struck twice in a span of 30 seconds.

The first marker came at the 17:27 mark. Ethan Leyh intercepted a pass at Greensboro's offensive blueline, and tossed the puck to Patrick Newell, who had escaped behind the Nailers defense. Newell made a quick deke, then shoveled a shot into the top-left corner of the net.

The Gargoyles forced another turnover on the very next shift, and the end result was a Ryan Richardson backhander that floated into the right side of the twine.

The Nailers thought they had pulled within one during the early stages of the middle frame. Bogdans Hodass let a shot go from the left point, which was tipped in by Connor Lockhart. However, the puck was ruled to be hit by Lockhart with a high stick, so the possible goal was wiped off of the board.

Wheeling outshot Greensboro 9-3 in the period, but one of those shots for the Gargoyles went in with 1:04 left on the clock. Braden Doyle's shot rocketed wide off of the end boards, but produced a rebound for Tyler Weiss, who jammed the puck inside of the right post.

The score didn't change in the third period, as Greensboro prevailed, 3-0.

Khazheyev earned his first career shutout for the Gargoyles. Taylor Gauthier made 12 saves on 15 shots in net for the Nailers.

In a 7-4 win over the Kansas City Mavericks in Independence, Missouri, Lebster lit the lamp twice and earned an assist for the Grizzlies.

Utah scored early and often with four goals coming in the first 20 minutes. With a 2-0 lead, Lebster made it a 3-0 game when he scored on a pass from Luke Manning 12:10 in.

The Grizzlies took a 5-2 lead into the third period before Lebster struck again at the 7:33 mark, and Utah cruised from there despite KC attempting to mount a comeback.

The seven goals were a season high for the Grizzlies.

Teasedale scored twice, including the game-winner, in a 3-1 victory for the Trois-Rivieres Lions over the Maine Mariners at Colisee Videotron.

With the Mariners up 1-0 in the opening frame, Teasdale capitalized on a scramble in front of the net to push the puck across the goal line and tie the game 1-1. The Quebec native is off to an excellent start with his new club, already tallying five goals in eight games.

The second period was scoreless, but in the third, Teasdale finished off a nice play by taking a pass from Wyatt McLeod and scoring his second goal of the night, which proved to be the game-winner for the Lions.

With less than a minute remaining in regulation, Anthony Poulin sealed the win by scoring into an empty net, ending any comeback hopes for the Mariners.

Golder tallied a pair of goals in the Royals’ 5-3 win over the Adirondack Thunder for their sixth consecutive home victory.

The Royals sprung out to a 3-0 lead after the first period on goals from Connor McMenamin, Golder and Massimo Rizzo.

Adirondack scored the next two goals to cut their deficit to 3-2. The teams traded goals at 5:47 of the third by Golder, his second goal of the game, and Brian Carrabes, but Reading remained in front 4-3.

The Royals sealed the victory on a power play goal by Jacob Frasca at 16:04 in the final stanza.

With his two-goal game, Golder recorded his team-leading fourth multi-goal performance, the 10th of his professional career.