WAYNE, NJ – As the standings sit with a handful of games left in the FHL regular season, the New Jersey Outlaws appear destined to face the Cape Cod Bluefins in the first round of the Commissioner’s Cup playoffs. This past Sunday, the two teams met at the Capital One Ice Vault with nothing but message sending on their minds.
Paced by a two-goal, three-point effort by captain Travis Kauffeldt, the Outlaws sent the message they wanted with a 5-2 victory over the Bluefins. The win continued to add to the Outlaws’ FHL-record victory total and at the same time avenged a loss to the Bluefins from two nights earlier.
Kauffeldt’s night began in the first period where he scored both of his goals. The first one came in a short-handed situation after teammate John Goffredo had gone to the penalty box. 39 seconds into the penalty kill, Kauffeldt beat Cape Cod goalie Adam Roy to put the Outlaws up 1-0 at the 3:46 mark. Just over two minutes later, Kauffeldt lit the lamp for the 44th time this season to double New Jersey’s lead. Netminder Dan McWhinney made the captain’s goals stand up into the first intermission by stopping all 10 Bluefins shots he faced.
Cape Cod found its game and gave the Outlaws everything they could handle in the second. AJ Tesoriero got the Bluefins on the scoreboard at the 6:51 mark, finding a way to put the puck behind McWhinney. The score stayed that way until there was less than six minutes remaining in the period. Goffredo made up for his penalty in the first by notching his 18th goal of the season at the 14:46 mark. Goffredo’s tally reestablished the two goal lead for the Outlaws but the Bluefins still had some fight left in them. Goffredo took his second minor penalty in the final minute and Cape Cod made him pay as Kevin McCready scored his 25th of the year on the man advantage to cut the margin to 3-2 at the break.
With the visitors breathing down their necks, the Outlaws needed a kill shot and they got it early in the third. Just 45 seconds into the period, Trevor Karasiewicz scored his 11th goal in 19 games for New Jersey to give his team its third two-goal lead of the game. Defenseman Jeff Winchester put the final touches on the scoreboard with his 20th goal of the season (6th with New Jersey in nine games) on a power play at the 16:30 mark, sealing the win for the home team.
McWhinney earned his 24 win of the season, making 33 saves on the 35 shots he saw. Cape Cod’s Roy stopped 34 out of 39 Outlaws shots in the loss. New Jersey has just three regular season games remaining starting Friday night in Hyannis against the Bluefins. Then it is off to the post-season starting with a best-of-five first round series that opens on March 9th and 10th in Wayne against sixth-seeded Cape Cod.
Contact the author at gary.marchese@prohockeynews.com
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