Falcons Move toward 1st round bye with win...

Fort Erie, ON

The Fort Erie Falcons continued their quest for second place in the Corfield Conference on Tuesday night against the Wisborg Donuts in what would be a key game in the Falcons quest towards a first round bye in the CCHL playoffs. 

 Everyone entering the arena knew how important the game would be for the home team.  A win would put the Falcons up by 11 points on the Donuts for second place with 15 games to play in the season, while a loss would make it considerably tighter and give Wisborg hope of catching Fort Erie in the standings.

With the tone set, it was Falcons’ Captain Blake Wheeler that got things going with a goal late in the first period.  Wheeler would add another at 1:51 of the second period to put Fort Erie up by a pair. 

“It was important to set the tone from our standpoint.  It was nice to get a pair early like that and help the team to a solid start,” said Wheeler following the contest.  

CCHL leading goal scorer Nazem Kadri would add his 48th of the campaign to stake the home team to a three-goal lead. 

David Backes would respond with just 25 seconds left in the second period but the damage had been done by that point.  

Kadri would add his 49th of the year in the third period and rookie defenceman Zach Werenski would score on the power play with 3:49 to play to put the game away for the home squad. 

Fort Erie controlled the game from the outset, outshooting Wisborg 50-17 in the contest.  Despite the lopsided shot total, Kadri doesn’t believe that the game was that lopsided.  

“Listen they were only down a pair of goals going into the third period.  They were still in the game and that’s a good team they have in that room.  We knew we couldn’t take them lightly at all and we wanted to have  a strong third period to close out the game, because at times this year, we’ve had trouble doing that.”

Kadri now sits just one goal away from the magical 50 mark on the season but says he doesn’t feel any extra pressure to get the goal. 

“If you told me coming into the season we’d be talking about me scoring my 50th goal here soon, I would have laughed at you.  The goals are a function of team success and my line with Patches (Pacioretty) and Marn Doggy Dawg (Marner) has been great to be a part of the past twenty or so games.  We found a chemistry that you don’t always find and luckily for us, the puck has found the net,” added Kadri. 

The Falcons return to action on Thursday night as they host local rival Niagara Falls Thunder in what is expected to be another sellout for the Falcons.