The Tomahawks fall to the New Jersey Titans in the first of two games this weekend in Middletown 4-2.
Friday night’s game started with the Tomahawks going on the power play only 1:42 into the game has Titans forward Nick Seitz goes to the box for two minutes for checking from behind. Tomahawks goaltender Sam Evola was challenged right away, making a series of saves with the Hawks on the man advantage. New Jersey kills the penalty shortly after, Johnstown’s Drew Murphy goes to the box for holding. The Tomahawks PK unit was doing what they do best as John Gelatt nets his 15th goal of the season on the Titans power play, but New Jersey’s Levente Keresztes said “anything you can do, I can do better” and tied the game with a power-play goal only 15 seconds later. Both sides came out shooting as the 1st period ended with 22 shots on goal; 10 for Johnstown and 12 for New Jersey.
A big save by New Jersey goaltender Berk Berkeliev keeps the game tied in the early stages of the 2nd period. New Jersey’s Jake Suede and Johnstown’s Brendan Clark would receive coincidental minors four minutes into the middle frame to open up the ice for some 4-on-4 action. Both sides would successfully kill off their penalties to go back to full strength with no score changes. A few minutes later, the Titans would take their first lead of the night with a goal from Zach Nazzarett to make it 3-2 Titans. Nazzarett’s goal would be the only one of the period to send both teams to the locker room with urgency to take control into the 3rd period.
Matt McQuade wouldn’t take long to tie things back up in the 3rd period, netting his second goal of the season. Just like in the first period though, New Jersey wouldn’t take long to tie things back up with a goal from Matthew Iasenza with exactly 15 minutes remaining in regulation. The 3rd period would be fairly quiet then the rest of the way, with only one more goal coming from Nick Seitz for New Jersey on the empty net to secure the 4-2 win for the Titans.
The Tomahawks and Titans will face off again tomorrow night in Middletown as the Hawks look for redemption. The game will be available on HockeyTV along with social media coverage.