Amerks Win with an Early Goal and Penalty Killing

When the Lake Erie Monsters scored only 1:40 into the third period to make it a one goal game I became a little worried.  The Amerks held on to a 2-0 lead for the previous 39 minutes and with this team you never know what could happen, so a third period meltdown was on my mind.  That did not happen and Mike York scored a power play goal at 17:34 of the third to solidify the win.

A big issue this past weekend was the penalty killing.  The Amerks gave the Monsters eight power play opportunities and were able to kill off every one of them.  A great improvement over last weekends six power play goals against.

Evgeny Dadonov scored his 15th goal of the season only 34 seconds into the game, assisted by Clay Wilson.  Only two minutes and four seconds later Jordan Henry found the back of the net for his 12th of the season to give the Amerks that 2-0 lead they would hold onto until the third period.  Dadonov and Beaverson assisted on his goal.

Based off the sound of the game from Don Stevens the 24 save performance by Tyler Plante was an impressive one.

Sounds like a pretty simple formula to winning a hockey game.  Score a couple of early goals, kill off your penalties and have a game where you can rely on your goalie.  When the Amerks play that game they win.  The problem has been that team effort for a consistent 60 minutes.

Ending this upcoming weekend with a four game winning streak will do wonders for the standings and team confidence and excitement.  The Amerks are home on Friday night vs Binghamton, on the road in Toronto on Saturday, and back at home on Sunday against Toronto.

Which team will show up?  You’re guess is as good as mine but the hope walking into a game is the successful one.