GROWLERS EXTEND HOME WINNING STREAK TO 18

NL GROWLERS PHOTO

S A T U R D A Y

The Newfoundland Growlers picked up their 18^th straight win at Mile One Centre to tie the record for the longest winning streak on home ice in ECHL history Saturday night in a 6-1 beating over the Brampton Beast at Mile One Centre on St. John’s Maple Leafs night before a crowd of 4,149.
 
A scoreless opening period saw Parker Gahagen stand tall between the pipes as the Beast out shot the Growlers 11-5 in a penalty-filled frame.
 
Zach O’Brien opened the scoring 1:08 into the second period after taking a pass from Marcus Power and rifling it behind Alex Dubeau for his 14^th of the season to give the Growlers a 1-0 lead, and Justin Brazeau needed only 1:13 later to finish off a beautiful play with Trey Bradley for a 2-0 game.
 
Daniel Leavens scored off the ensuing face off –however to cut the lead to one just 12 seconds later after his wrister went up and over Parker Gahagen for a 2-1 game.
 
The back-and-forth start to the second period continued when Trey Bradley banked a shot off a Beast defender and in the back of the net for his 12^th of the season to restore the two-goal lead, but then the Growlers opened the floodgates. Riley Woods fired a wrister off the post and in two minutes later for a 4-1 game, and Marcus Power went top shelf only 1:03 after that for a 5-1 lead, ending Alex Dubeau’s night between the pipes as he was replaced by Andrew D’Agostini on the play.
 
Matt Bradley continued the second-period onslaught with 2:50 remaining beating D’Agostini five-hole to give the Growlers a 6-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.
 
Riley Woods looked to keep the offense rolling into the third period after driving hard to the net and banging a rebound home, but after review, it was deemed no goal in what was a scoreless but another very chippy final period, resulting in a 6-1 final score.

F R I D A Y

The Newfoundland Growlers extended their home winning streak to 17 games in a 5-0 shutout win  over the Brampton Beast Friday night at Mile One Centre before a crowd of 4,368.

That win has the Growlers tied for the second all-time longest home winning streak in league history.

The puck was barely dropped when Joseph Duszak cut across and fed Aaron Luchuk a pass which he made no mistake on, re-directing his 15th of the season behind Alex Dubeau just 19 seconds in for a 1-0 Growlers lead. Luchuk’s tally stood as the only offense in the opening frame, and both teams registered eight shots on goal.

Luchuk rifled home his second of the night at 8:16 of the second period after one-timing a Garrett Johnston feed top shelf on the power play for a 2-0 Growlers lead, and with 28.7 seconds to play Trey Bradley fired a shorthanded wrister past Dubeau for his 11th of the season to send the Growlers to the locker room up 3-0 after 40 minutes of play.

Aaron Luchuk re-directed a Joseph Duszak point shot to complete the hat trick against his former team at 4:38 of the third period to put the Growlers ahead 4-0 and to send Growlers Nation into a frenzy, and Brady Ferguson picked the top corner just under four minutes later for a 5-0 lead.

The Beast applied heavy pressure in the final minutes of the game while on a powerplay, but Parker Gahagen stood tall and turned aside all 33 shots he faced to preserve the shutout for a 5-0 victory.