Falcons blank Islanders, 2-0..

Grubauer blanks Sanibal, 2-0

The Fort Erie Falcons won their second game in a row on Thursday night, defeating the Sanibel Islanders 2-0 in front of a packed home arena. 

A strong first period saw the Falcons outshoot the visitor 23-5, but were only able to get one puck behind Sanibel goaltender Ryan Miller in the frame. 

Max Pacioretty got the home team on the board in the last minute of the first period, finishing off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Slavin and Kadri. 

The score would remain the same until the final 2:37 left in the second period, as rookie defenceman Zach Werenski fired home his sixth goal of the season on a rocket from the point.  Sebastian Aho and Claude Giroux were credited with assists on the play. 

Philipp Grubauer shut the door the rest of the way for his third shutout of the season.  Grubauer now has a save percentage over .930 on the season and has really found his groove after some initial struggles in Fort Erie. 

"The guys, they played great in front of me tonight.  I only saw 19 shots.  It was a fun night and luckily I was not overworked like Miller was," said Grubauer of his third shutout. 

The Falcons are back in action tonight with their third game in three nights against former Falcon Brent Burns and the Siberia IceCats. 

Siberia enters the evening with points in nine of their past and is one of the hottest teams in the league. 

Expect John Gibson back in the Fort Erie net tonight as Grubauer has played in the past two games.  Gibson, while struggling lately, has been working hard in practice and looks to re-establish himself as the number one man in the Fort Erie net. 

It should be a great contest in Fort Erie tonight with both teams looking to continue their fine play of late.