The Port Huron Prowlers held on to win 4-3 win Saturday night after falling to the Columbus River Dragons by the same score the night before. Prowlers head coach Joe Pace returned to the line up after missing the first five games of the season due to a suspension.
It was the Prowlers who would strike first on the power play when Justin Portillo would fire home a loose puck in the slot after a shot from Matt Stoia was blocked and deflected to Portillo. It was Portillo’s second straight game with a goal and second straight power play goal.
But the River Dragons would respond eight seconds later after a turnover by Stoia led to CJ Haye’s pick of an errant pass in the high slot and a wrister glove side on Chris Paulin for his first goal of the season.
Port Huron would regain the lead with 18 seconds left in the first frame when Matt Robertson picked up a pass in the right slot and fed it over to Chris Leveille across the slot. Leveille would slip it right past Jared Rutledge to give the Prowlers a 2-1 lead.
The Prowlers kept up the pace in the second period as Dalton Jay would score on a 2-on-1 opportunity off a nice pass from Austin Fetterly to put Port Huron up 3-1.
Captain Matt Robertson would put the Prowlers up by three on a 5 on 3 power play with a one-timer slapshot. Paul Arnott would pass the puck to Robinson at the top of point and Robinson would beat Rutledge glove side for his fifth goal of the season.
In the third period, Columbus would get back on the board with a goal from Jake Howie. Howie would rip a shot from the point that deflected off a body in front of Paulin and trickle into the net to cut the River Dragons deficit to two.
The River Dragons would tally once more when MJ Graham scored his third goal of the season on a breakaway after picking off a pass in the high slot. When Paulin came out of the net aggressively, Graham was able to go around the goaltender to bring the River Dragons to within a goal game.
Looking a whole lot better overall than their past three games, the Prowlers were able to hold off the River Dragons to get their first regulation win. The physical and defensive play from Joe Pace rejuvenated the team while the Special teams cashed in on their power play chances and successfully killed off penalties. Chris Paulin made 29 saves in the game while Jared Rutledge finished with 27 of his own.
by Jeremy Skiba
You must be logged in to post a comment.