TROIS-RIVIERES, PQ – Playing on the road to start a season is never an easy thing. Having to play four games in six days away from home makes the task that much more difficult. So far, the Newfoundland Growlers are making it all look fairly easy.
Tuesday night, the Growlers used two goals from Isaac Johnson in his debut with Newfoundland and another top notch performance from goalie Keith Petruzzelli to beat the Trois-Rivieres Lions 4-1. It was the Growlers third win over the Lions and the fourth straight win by Newfoundland to start the 2021-22 season.
On the final leg of their 4-game road trip, the Growlers opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal just 8 minutes into the game, when Lions goalie Kevin Poulin misplayed the puck right onto the stick of Growlers forward Todd Burgess who skated the puck into the empty net.
The teams would show the fans in Trois-Rivières a scoreless second period where the Newfoundland Growlers outshot the Lions 11-9. Early in the 3rd period, Johnson gained a step on a Lions defenseman and buried the puck behind Poulin to earn his first Growlers goal and gave his team a 2-0 lead.
The Lions finally solved Growlers goalie Petruzzelli with 4 minutes left in the third period as Olivier Galipeau’s blast from the point found the back of the net. Johnson restored the lead just over a minute later by potting his second of the game into the empty cage and Todd Skriving added another empty-netter with 26 seconds left on the clock to secure the victory and a franchise-best 4-0 start to the season for the Growlers.
Quick Hits: Keith Petruzzelli, who was named the ECHL/Warrior Hockey Goalie of the Weekearlier on Tuesday, recorded 36 saves… Isaac Johnson scored 2 goals in his first game as a Growler… The Growlers scored three shorthanded goals… The three stars were 3 – C. Montminy (TR), 2 – K. Petruzzelli (NFL), and 1 – I. Johnson (NFL).
Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.