BROOKLYN – With nothing on the line for them this weekend, the New Jersey Outlaws are thinking ahead to the upcoming playoffs that start at the end of this coming week. Unfortunately in doing that, they are getting into some bad habits.
After needing a huge comeback Friday night, the Outlaws went to the Aviator Sports and Recreation Complex in Brooklyn and were stomped by the host Aviators 9-3 Saturday night. The Aviators were led by Nick Petriello and Chris Campanale who each notched a hat trick in the contest.
Things started off well for the visiting Outlaws. Kevin Cooper got his team on the board first by scoring the first of his two goals a mere 17 seconds after the opening puck drop. It took Brooklyn just over seven minutes to find a way to beat New Jersey starting goalie Adam Dekker but when Campanale did so, the score was tied. Rookie Andrew Owsiak then put the Aviators in front with a score of his own at the 10:54 mark. Not to be outdone, Cooper potted his second of the first period behind Brooklyn netminder Michael DiLorenzo at the 14:35 point to knot the score at 2-2.
From that point, the rest of the period, and for that matter the game, belonged to the Aviators. Petriello took advantage of a New Jersey penalty to score a power play goal just over a minute after Cooper’s tally to put Brooklyn in front to stay. A subsequent Outlaws penalty provided the Aviators with another man advantage and they made good use of the chance. Jason Dolgy beat Dekker (10 saves on 14 shots) with a shot to make it 4-2 and end the night for the Outlaws goalie as coach Chris Firriolo replaced him with Dan McWhinney. Brooklyn out-shot New Jersey 19-8 in the stanza and took that two goal lead into the first intermission.
The Aviators went on the power play again early in the middle period and increased the lead when Petriello picked up his second score (and second power play goal) of the game at 2:22. Campanale then beat McWhinney for his second lamp-lighter at the 8:02 mark to increase the margin to 6-2. Four minutes later, New Jersey’s Anthony Battaglia stopped some of the bleeding when he scored a goal to cut the deficit to three. It was the final score of a period which saw the teams each register eleven shots on net but the scoreboard was anything but even at 6-3 heading to the final twenty minutes.
DiLorenzo, who started in place of Josselin St. Pierre in net for the Aviators, was on his game in the third period. He stopped all 16 shots that the Outlaws threw at him on the way to a 32-save performance. Brooklyn was not however done with scoring goals for itself. Steve Koich put a shot past McWhinney 5:33 into the frame to push the lead back to four goals. McWhinney (23 saves on 28 shots) was able to hold the Aviators at bay for more than ten minutes before Campanale notched his hat trick goal at the 15:17 mark of the period to make it 8-3. Less than a minute later, Petriello potted his third of the night to join Campanale in the hat trick club and finish off the scoring for the night.
Needless to say, Petriello (first star) and Campanale (second star) were picked as the top two players in the game. Teammate Michael Thomson (three assists) was picked as the third star. The two teams will travel down to the Ice Vault in Wayne for the regular season finale Sunday afternoon. Then it is on to the post-season which will start for the Outlaws at home on Friday against the Cape Cod Bluefins.
Contact the author at gary.marchese@prohockeynews.com
