BROOKLYN, NY – Late last month, New York Aviators’ forward Matt Puntureri was named to the All-FHL team in recognition of the play he exhibited on the ice during the regular season. Sunday afternoon, he proved his value once again when his team needed it the most.
Puntureri scored two goals for the second straight game, the second coming 3:56 into the first overtime as the Aviators came from behind to defeat the Danbury Whalers 4-3 in the winner-take-all game five of the FHL South division final at the Aviator Sports and Recreation Center. New York will now head to the FHL championship series against the well-rested Akwesasne Warriors beginning Friday night in Brooklyn.
Puntureri’s game and series-winning tally came on an even-man rush when Jesse Felten sent him in alone on Danbury goalie Peter Vetri. Puntureri made a couple of stick-handling moves before sliding the puck past Vetri for his fifth goal and twelfth point of the series, setting off a wild celebration on the ice that may have been filled with as much relief as it was happiness.
The fact that the Aviators and Whalers were back in Brooklyn for game five was amazing in itself, given that New York had won 21 of its final 22 games in the regular season and had dominated Danbury. The Whalers, playing off the emotion of having ended New York’s league record-setting winning streak, had put the Aviators collective backs to the wall Friday night only to watch their opponents get back up off the ice to tie the series less than 24 hours before lacing up the skates for the ultimate match-up on Sunday.
Early in the first period, the teams went back and forth at each other, looking to see if the other was showing and tired legs as the squads were playing their third game in less than three days. The shots were fairly equal until Whalers’ sniper Alec Kirschner got loose for a clean breakaway while on the penalty kill. As he bore in on New York net minder Kevin Druce , thoughts went back to Friday night’s late penalty shot that Kirschner scored on. This time Druce stayed with Kirschner, making a left pad save as the speedy forward attempted to lift the puck into the net.
Not too long after Druce’s big save, his teammates drew first blood. Angelo Serse dumped the puck into the center ice zone, finding Chris Holmes who was streaking along the near side boards. Holmes caught the pass and drifted into the offensive zone before cutting across the slot. As he made the cut, he flipped a backhander past Whalers’ goalie Peter Vetri to give the Aviators the lead with 10:58 left in the opening stanza.
Danbury knew it had to answer the New York score with a tally of its own. They did so at the 11:04 mark thanks in part to Vetri. The goaltender made a key save which the Whalers turned into an odd-man rush the other way. Martin Moucha got the puck to Chris Seifert who whistled a wrist shot past Druce to tie the game and let the home team know they were in for a battle. Despite the fact that the Aviators had a decided advantage in play with a 15-8 shot margin, the score after one was tied at 1-1.
As the middle period began, each team had an opportunity to score but the goalies thwarted the attempts. Then at the 2:15 mark, Felten got the puck to Puntureri who rushed through the middle and beat Vetri to the stick side to once again put the Aviators in front.
The Whalers needed another quick strike answer to New York’s initial punch and got it from an unlikely source. On a foray into the New York zone, Wayne Sands found Matt Caranci who fired a shot that Druce got a piece of. Unfortunately for the league MVP, he didn’t get all of it and the puck trickled in to knot the score at 2-2.
Sensing they had the Aviators stunned, the Whalers kept applying pressure, pinning New York in its defensive end. Just 1:12 after Caranci’s score, Seifert had the puck behind the net and went for a wrap-around. Druce made the initial save but in the chaos that followed, Seifert was able to shovel the puck home for his second of the game and Danbury’s first lead since his overtime game-winner in game three on Friday.
There was still 15 minutes left in the second period when Seifert scored but this time the Whalers had the defensive answer to the New York offense. Danbury tightened up the defense and kept the Aviators from getting loose and using their speed to create chances. Even when New York got back-to-back power plays late in the period, the Whalers held them in check. When the buzzer sounded to end the stanza, Danbury had a 3-2 lead and were just twenty minutes away for pulling off an upset.
As the third period started, Danbury had a little over two minutes of power play left over from a double minor on New York’s John Goffredo. Unfortunately, they were missing defenseman Leland Fidler who was injured in the second and Kirschner who had disappeared after the first period. The Aviators killed off the disadvantage but when they got their fifth power play at the 3:30 mark, they were completely frustrated by the Whalers’ defensive plan.
With the clock continuing to tick away, the Aviators began pushing harder and harder looking for the tying goal. Finally with 6:47 to go, Felten was able to set up Nick Grove for a shot that eluded Vetri to draw New York even. Over the final 3:33, the Aviators out-shot the Whalers three to two but the score remained tied as the teams headed to the locker room to await the first extra period.
Both sides knew the urgency of scoring early in overtime, especially Danbury with its shortened bench. The best early chance belonged to Puntureri as he appeared to hit a post out of a wild scramble in front of Vetri. The Whalers recorded three shots to the Aviators’ two in the first four minutes before the Felten – Puntureri connection clicked to send the best regular season team to the finals.
Game Notes: After going 4-for-10 in game four, New York’s power play was 0-for-5 in the deciding game while Danbury went 0-for-3 with the man advantage…For the game, Druce made 21 saves on 24 shots to record the win. His counterpart Vetri stopped 29 of the 33 shots he faced…Seifert scored four goals in the series to lead the Whalers while his teammate Kirschner led in scoring with seven points on three goals and four assists…Puntureri’s five goals in the series ties him with Akwesasne’s Miguel Delisle and Dan Tessier and Thousand Islands’ Ryan Pearson and Alex Goupil who all had five in the North division final.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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