ST. JOHN’S, NL – The Newfoundland Growlers saw their winning streak end at three games as they suffered a 7-5 defeat to the Brampton Beast Saturday night at Mile One Centre.
Brady Ferguson opened the scoring at 3:09 of the first period after taking a nice pass from Scott Pooley to spring a partial breakaway and squeaked it past Alex Dubeau to give the Growlers an early 1-0 lead. Francois Beauchemin tied the game after re-directing a Nathan Todd shot behind Patrick Munson at 11:36 of the first period, but Justin Brazeau needed only a minute and a half to slap home a big rebound and re-store the Growlers lead. The back-and-forth opening period continued when David Vallorani made good on a shorthanded breakaway with 1:45 to play in the first, making it a 2-2 game.
Riley Woods pulled the Growlers ahead once again beating Dubeau blocker side on a two-on-one rush for a 3-2 lead just 1:40 into the second period, but Brampton replied once again as Chris Martenet’s point blast trickled past Munson at the 8:54 mark for a 3-3 game.
The Beast took their first lead of the game at the mid-way mark of the second period as Andrew Sturtz capitalized on a shorthanded breakaway, giving the visitors their second shorthanded goal of the game. Giorgio Estephan responded with 2:30 remaining in the second period after going hard to the net and banging a loose puck in the Beast net on the power play to extend his point streak to five games, and for a 4-4 game after 40 minutes
Estephan restored the Growlers lead 2:20 into the third period, firing home his second power play goal of the game and giving the Growlers a 5-4 lead, but five minutes later Francois Beauchemin netted his second of the game to tie the game once again at 5-5.
Nathan Todd gave Brampton their second lead of the game after batting a loose puck behind Munson for a 6-5 game.
Head Coach John Snowden pulled Patrick Munson with 2:15 remaining in the third period for an extra attacker, but the gamble didnot pay off as Matt Petgrave fired the puck into an empty cage for a 7-5 final score.
Quick Hits: Zach O’Brien was recalled to the Toronto Marlies prior to puckdrop… Matt Bradleywore an “A”… The three stars were 3 – M. Hollowell (NFL), 2 – T. Bradley (NFL) and 1 – T. Melancon (BRM)
What’s Next The Newfoundland Growlers embark on a five-game road trip beginning Friday night against the Maine Mariners, ECHL affiliate of the New York Rangers. Puck drop is 8:45 p.m. Newfoundland time.
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