ST. JOHN’S, NL – The Newfoundland Growlers kicked off the 2020 portion of their season by extending their home winning streak to 13 games in a greasy 3-2 overtime win against the Adirondack Thunder Friday night at Mile One Centre.
Justin Brazeau opened the scoring 4:22 into the game beating Eamon McAdam short side for a 1-0 Growlers lead, and just 55 seconds later Aaron Luchuk took a beautiful cross-crease pass from Giorgio Estephan and fired one home for an early 2-0 lead. The Thunder struck with just 18 seconds remaining in the first on the power play when Casey Pierro-Zabotel roofed a backhander behind Parker Gahagen to cut the Growlers lead to 2-1 after 20 minutes of play.
A scoreless second period saw the Growlers get outshot by the Thunder 12-5, but Parker Gahagen was rock solid between the pipes, including a diving save with two minutes to play in the middle frame to preserve the 2-1 score after 40.
The Thunder kept the pressure rolling into the third period, and it paid off when Nikita Popugaev deflected a point-shot five-hole on Gahagen to tie the game at 2-2 with 4:46 remaining in the third period.
Estephan played the role of hero 2:03 into overtime completely undressing McAdam and toe-dragging it into the back of the net for a 3-2 victory.
Quick Hits: Michael Kapla left the game in the second period and did not return… Aaron Luchuk snapped his eight-game goalless drought… The three stars were 3- N. Popugaev (ADK), 2 – G. Estephan (NFL) and 1 – P. Gahagen (NFL)
What’s Next: The Newfoundland Growlers square off with the Adirondack Thunder, ECHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils again Saturday night before hitting the road for a three-game trip. Puck drop is 7 p.m Newfoundland time (5:30 p.m. Eastern time).
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