Devils Capture Shootout Win Vs. Gladiators
October 28, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Trenton Devils News Release
Trenton, NJ - T.J. Miller and Darcy Zajac each scored goals in regulation time, and Dave Caruso made 34 saves on 36 shots as the Trenton Devils defeated the Gwinnett Gladiators 3-2 in a shootout Thursday night at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton.
In the first period, the Devils and Gladiators traded chances and stood on equal footing until the period's final 93 seconds, when first-year Gladiator Ryan Garbutt chipped in his third tally of the season by jamming a rebound past a sprawled-out Dave Caruso to give Gwinnett a 1-0 lead. But no sooner than the Gladiators had taken the lead had they given their advantage right back, when rookie Devils' defenseman T.J. Miller answered Garbutt's game-opening score by firing a shot from the left point past Gwinnett goaltender Billy Sauer to tie the game. Miller's goal was the 6'4, 220-lb. Californian's first-career professional goal. Rookie defenseman Jordon Southorn also recorded his first-career professional point on the play by being credited with the assist. The score remained deadlocked, 1-1, after 20 minutes of play.
Seemingly fueled by their late-period, game-tying marker, the Devils stormed out of the gate in the second, taking their first lead of the night, 2-1, on a goal by Darcy Zajac just 17 seconds into the period. The sequence which culminated with Zajac's first goal as a Devil started innocently, with a save by Billy Sauer, and the puck ricocheting into the corner to the right of the 6-2, 185-lb. Rochester native goaltender. But second-year Devil Ryan Ginand caught Sauer and the Gwinnett defense off guard with a quick centering pass which Zajac, camped on top of the crease all by himself, made no mistake in redirecting into the lower right corner of the yawning 4=D76 net to give Trenton its first lead of the evening.
Unable to find an equalizer in the second period, the Gladiators evened the score once more early in the third when Ryan Garbutt notched his second goal of the game at 2:45. After that, the teams exchanged volleys throughout the third period, with neither team, and neither goaltender, willing to blink. The Devils had a golden opportunity to win the game when Danick Paquette and Derek Nesbitt took penalties at 17:03 and 17:15 respectively, but the Gladiators protected their goaltender and kept the game square by killing the 1:47 of two-man disadvantage and forcing the game into overtime.
After a scoreless five minutes of overtime, the teams entered a shootout. In the shooter-against-goaltender duels, Ryan Hayes and Darcy Zajac each beat Sauer with quick wrist shots, and when Dave Caruso was through stopping all four Gwinnett shooters that he faced, the Devils had an exciting 3-2 win to improve their season's record to 2-3.
The Devils and Gladiators will do battle again on Friday night in the final game of their two-day, two-game series in Trenton. Opening faceoff is set for 7:00 p.m.
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