ST.JOHN’S, NL – The Newfoundland Growlers extended their home winning streak to 17 games in a 5-0 blanking over the Brampton Beast Friday night at Mile One Centre before a crowd of 4,368. The win puts 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.
Luchuk re-directed a 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 power play, but Parker Gahagen stood tall and turned aside all 33 shots he faced to preserve the shutout for a 5-0 victory.
Quick Hits: Parker Gahagen has recorded a shutout in two of his last three starts… Giorgio Estephan moved fourth in league scoring with a pair of assists… The three stars were 3 – J. Melindy (NFL), 2 – P. Gahagen (NFL) and 1 – A. Luchuk (NFL)
What’s Next: The Newfoundland Growlers pay tribute to the St. John’s Maple Leafs in a rematch Saturday night with the Brampton Beast, ECHL affiliate of the Ottawa Senators. Puck drop is 7 p.m. Newfoundland time (5:30 p.m. Eastern time).
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