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| Max P. comes up big for Falcons |
Fort Erie - September 14, 2017
For many observers, last night's game between the Fort Erie Falcons and the visiting Niagara Falls Thunder appeared to be a game of teams heading in the opposite direction. Niagara Falls entered the contest with just one win in their first five games of the season while Fort Erie were winners of four of their first five games.
Fortunately for the fans in attendance, it was anything but the case.
It took an overtime goal from Max Pacioretty, his second of the contest, to send the Fort Erie faithful home with a win; while the Thunder returned home with their fifth loss in six games.
Tyler Seguin opened the scoring in the game with his second goal of the campaign but Fort Erie quickly found itself playing catch-up at various points throughout the evening.
The game looked grim when Niagara Falls' Dustin Byfuglien put the Thunder up 4-2 with 8:27 to play in the third but that lead would not last.
Evander Kane cut the Thunder lead to one with 3:22 to play and Pacioretty scored his first of the game with 38 seconds to play after coming onto the ice as an extra attacker after goaltender Philipp Grubauer hustled to the bench.
Despite the win, Pacioretty was anything but happy with the win.
"We didn't play a great game tonight from our stand point. It's nice to come back but we left Grubby (Grubauer) to his own devices far too often. You can't do that against anyone in this league and expect to win. Niagara Falls may be 1-5 but they are a heck of a team and it's only a matter of time until they turn it around."
Fort Erie once again had over 45 shots on goal, outshooting Niagara Falls 47-30 but team Captain Blake Wheeler wasn't impressed by that statistic.
"We're cheating to create offense. It's great. Everyone loves goal scoring but we need to tighten things up as it's almost been 30 years since somebody played this style of game and won a cup at any level" said Wheeler post-game.
Up next for Fort Erie are the Dartmouth Lakers on Friday night. The Lakers visit Fort Erie for the first time this season and feature former Falcons stars Cam Talbot, Tuuka Rask and Zach Parise.
Dartmouth is off to a respectable 3-4-0 start to the season and looks to build off last year's return to the CCHL playoffs this season.
HAPPY JACK's 3 STARS of the game:
1) Max Pacioretty - 2 goals including the tying and OT winning goal.
2) Cam Atkinson - 2 goals, 1 assist for Niagara Falls
3) Brent Seabrook - 2 assists, +2 in the game
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