BRAMPTON, ONTARIO – Brampton Beast forward Scott Jacklin tied the game with 0.3 seconds remaining in the contest, sending the home crowd at the Powerade Centre into a frenzy but Adam Krause scored his second goal of the game in overtime as the Wheeling Nailers completed the heartbreaking comeback with a 5-4 win on Saturday night.
The Beast started the game with one of their best periods of the season. It took Brampton just 42 seconds to find the back of the net as Chris Auger took a pass in the slot and rifled a quick shot through Nailers starter Casey DeSmith for an early 1-0 lead.
Just over a minute later, the Beast found themselves shorthanded but that didn’t stop them from pushing the lead to 2-0 early in the game. Brandon Marino was sent in alone on DeSmith and faked out the goaltender with a great deke and potted his 12th goal of the year at 1:51.
DeSmith injured himself on the play and exited the game with two goals against on two shots in less than two minutes of ice time.
Friday night’s starter Franky Palazzese entered the game in relief but that didn’t stop the Beast from continuing their hot start. Steven Kaunisto settled down the puck at the left side point and fired a seeing-eye wrist shot that eluded the Wheeling goaltender, giving the Beast a 3-0 lead by the 11:33 mark of the opening frame.
The resilient Nailers clawed their way back in the second period and responded with two goals from Adam Krause and Connor Leen to bring the score to 3-2 heading into the final frame.
Wheeling peppered Beast starting goaltender Jordan Ruby with 24 shots through two periods but the netminder made several huge saves on odd-man rushes, one-timers and partial breakaways to maintain the Beast lead.
The Nailers were persistent on the attack to start the third period and tied the game on Ty Loney’s sixth goal of the season at the 3:02 mark.
Wheeling took its first lead of the game less than five minutes into the third period as Paul Cianfrini beat Ruby at 4:48.
Much as they did the night before, the Nailers did a great job keeping the Beast at bay thanks to some strong goaltending from Palazzese, but the Beast would not be denied the tying goal and they got it in dramatic fashion.
With time running down on the clock and with former Beast Mathew Maione in the penalty box for slashing with less than two minutes remaining in the game, Beast Head Coach Colin Chaulk elected to pull his goaltender for a 6-on-4 advantage.
The move paid off as Steven Kaunisto one-timed a pass from David Ling toward the goal and Scott Jacklin got his stick on the puck and redirected it behind Palazzese with 0.3 seconds remaining in regulation time, helping the Beast force overtime for a league-leading 17th time this season.
The Beast pressed hard in the extra frame but the Nailers entered the Beast zone on a 3-on-1 and executed a perfect tic-tac-toe play, with Adam Krause ending the game with his second of the night at 2:08 of overtime.
With Brampton Beast release
Contact the photographer: John.Warren@prohockeynews.com
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