The Elmira Jackals moved into first place in the ECHL’s East Division on Friday night with a 5-1win over the Wheeling Nailers. But their conquest was also possible thanks to the Trenton Devils’ 4-1 defeat of the previously-first-place Reading Royals that same night. How are the Devils repaid for their help? By handing Trenton their sixth shutout loss of the year; their second one this week.
The T-Devils for the first period and a half seemed to have picked up where they left-off on Friday night, out-shooting Elmira 14-7 by time the first period was over.
After much back-and-forth play throughout the second period Elmira broke the scoreless deadlock when Tyler Donati was able to put a wrist-shot past Dave Caruso at the 12:38 mark for his 22nd goal of the season. Justin Donati was given the primary assist on the goal as he made the feed to Tyler after faking a slap-shot and drawing Caruso out of position.
Trenton continued to create chances but ultimately failed to capitalize on any of them. Late in the second period Elmira netminder Julian Ellis came up big, stopping a 2-on-1 rush by Jack Combs and Matt Vokes. Then with about 6:00 minutes to go in the third Justin Pender had Trenton’s best chance, hitting the crossbar with a shot from the point.
Trenton bench boss Rick Kowalsky then pulled Dave Caruso for an extra attacker with 1:40 left in the game. The T-Devils had several shots at Ellis, but ultimately Tyler Donati intercepted a Devils pass and fed it to Olivier Proulx for an empty-net goal.
When all was said and done, Julian Ellis had stopped all 30 of Trenton’s shots for his first shutout of the season and the fifth of his career. Elmira’s Donati brothers have been racking up huge amounts of points this season. Both are tied for 2nd in the ECHL with 69 points each. Including today’s game, Tyler Donati put up 3 goals and 3 assists on the weekend while twin brother Justin added 1 goal and 4 assists to his cause.
Dave Caruso stopped 26 of the 27 shots that he faced. For Caruso it was his fourth straight start as Gerald Coleman has been a scratch since the second game of their road trip to Florida.
The T-Devils will not see action until next Friday, February 12th at 7:00 pm when they host the Reading Royals for the first game of a home-and-home series. On Saturday they visit the Royals at the Sovereign Bank Center in reading for a 7:05 pm game. Then on Sunday they travel up to Elmira for a chance to avenge today’s loss to the Jackals in a 4:05 pm contest. The following weekend the T-Devils start with two games before returning to the Sun National Bank Center on Sunday February 21st to face the Wheeling Nailers at 4:05 pm.
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