Mike Bartlett scored in overtime Saturday to give the visiting Johnstown Chiefs a 6-5 victory over the Wheeling Nailers at WesBanco Arena, snapping a two-game losing streak against the American Conference rival.
In what seemed like a replay of Friday’s game in Johnstown, the Nailers Thomas Beauregard and the Chiefs Moises Gutierrez traded first period goals for the second straight night, but it was Johnstown that came away with the overtime victory for its third win of the season.
Wheeling took advantage of a power play to take the early lead, and once again the first goal came off the stick of Beauregard. With Johnstown’s Bartlett in the penalty box for holding, Beauregard was able to slam a rebound past Chiefs goaltender Kris Mayotte for the early 1-0 lead just 26 seconds into the opening period. T.J. Fox and Mitch Ganzak assisted. The goal was Beauregard’s ninth of the season.
The Chiefs Gutierrez answered Beauregard’s tally, sneaking the puck past the short side of Wheeling’s Adam Berkhoel to tie the game 1-1 at 7:44. Gutierrez, standing just above the goal line on the right wing, was able to bounce the puck off a Nailers defender and behind the goalie despite the bad angle for his second goal of the season. Matt Robinson and Greg Gallagher assisted on the goal.
Unlike Friday’s game, the Nailers quickly found the net again thanks to a penalty to Johnstown’s Jim Mckenzie, and once again it was Beauregard who put Wheeling back on top. With Mckenzie serving two minutes for elbowing, Beauregard notched his second power-play goal of the game and 10th goal of the season at 11:27 for the 2-1 lead. T.J. Fox and Casey Pierro-Zabotel assisted, but the lead wouldn’t last as Johnstown answered with a power-play goal of its own.
With time running out in the opening period and the Nailers short-handed, Gutierrez redirected a hard slap shot by Jarrett Konkle at 17:12 to tie the game 2-2. Johnstown’s Ryan Menei found Konkle for a quick one-timer off the draw, and Gutierrez was able to deflect the puck past Berkhoel for his second goal of the game and third of the season. Konkle and Menei earned the assists.
The game’s tempo remained high to start the second period, but it was Johnstown that took control of the game when Robinson scored just two minutes into the period to give the Chiefs a 3-2 lead. Robinson was able to collect a rebound from the end boards and bank it off the arm of a flailing Berkhoel and into the net for his second of the season. Gallagher and Connor Shields assisted on the goal.
Johnstown expanded its lead at 14:33 when defenseman Trevor Hendrikx scored on the power play to give the Chiefs the 4-2 advantage. Hendrikx took a pass at center-point and fired a slap shot between the pads of Berkhoel for his second goal of the season. Bryan Marshall and Konkle assisted. It was the final shot of the evening for Berkhoel, who was replaced by Jordan Parise after giving up four goals on 14 shots.
A rash of Chiefs penalties gave the Nailers plenty of opportunities to narrow the lead, but Johnstown’s Mayotte made several key saves, including a stellar stop on Chris Capraro during a 5-on-3 power play, to keep Wheeling off the board and maintain the 4-2 lead heading into the second intermission.
Once again the Chiefs headed into the third period with the lead, and once again the third period proved too hard to handle as the Nailers rallied for the third time this season against Johnstown. The Nailers rallied in the third for a 4-3 overtime victory Nov. 7 at Wheeling and repeated the effort with the same result in Friday’s game in Johnstown. Tonight would be no different.
Aaron Clarke took advantage of Johnstown’s Chris Zarb, who failed to control a pass at the point, and broke in on a 2-on-1 with Jordan Fox for Wheeling’s first of three goals in the third period. Fox earned the lone assist, and the Nailers cut the Chiefs lead to 4-3 at 7:27.
Defenseman Alex Grant answered next for Wheeling with his first of two goals on the night, slapping a low, hard shot to the stick side of Mayotte and tying the game 4-4 at 11:05. The goal was his third of the season. Cliff Loya and Andrew Lord assisted. Grant scored again less than two minutes later, taking advantage of a penalty to Johnstown’s Sean Berkstresser for hooking to give the Nailers the 5-4 advantage at 12:53. Clark and Jordan Fox assisted.
With time running out, recently acquired defenseman Chris Zarb displayed his offensive talents by tying the game at 18:24 with his first goal for the Chiefs. Johnstown’s Shields set up Robinson for a one-timer that failed to find the net, but Zarb was able to pick up the rebound and put it behind Parise to force overtime.
Both teams had scoring chances in the extra frame, but it was Johnstown’s Bartlett who scored the game-winner at 2:05 of overtime to give the Chiefs the win. With a delayed penalty coming to the Nailers, Bartlett was able to slide in the backdoor undetected and fire the puck past Parise’s glove hand for the win. R.J. Anderson and Shields assisted.
The win was Mayotte’s first of the season and improved the Chiefs to 3-6-3 overall. Johnstown is now 3-1-2 in its last six games after beginning the season 0-6-3.
Wheeling dropped to 4-7-2 overall but remains one point ahead of Johnstown in the American Conference with 10 points.
Mayotte faced 44 shots for the win, while the Chiefs registered just 26 shots on goal.
Chris Zarb made his first appearance for the Johnstown Chiefs after being acquired Thursday from the Gwinnett Gladiators. He was expected to play during Friday’s game but was unable to make the trip.
Comments
Very good game recap, Keith. You made the game sound as exciting as it most likely was.
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