Firepower Unleashed, Devils Blaze Walleye 9-6

Published on March 10, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Trenton Devils News Release


Trenton, NJ, March 10, 2010 - The highest scoring game for Trenton in more than a year yielded a 9-6 triumph for the Devils over Toledo Wednesday at SunCenter. Six Devils had multi-point games and neither starting goalie survived as the Devils got their first ever win over the Walleye. Matt Vokes and Brett Wilson each recorded two goals and one assist in the victory and Dave Caruso held the Walleye scoreless in his 30 sparkling minutes between the pipes.

The Devils took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in a back and forth first period, but settled for a 3-3 tie at period's end. Matt Vokes had points on all three Devils goals in the frame, getting the primary assist on the 25th goal of the year for Jeff Prough on the power play at 3:16. Vokes scored the next two himself, first redirecting a Chris Murray blast on the power play and then tying the game with 23 seconds left on a chip shot from the crease. On the Toledo side, Chris Robertson scored his 15th of the year, Akim Aliu netted his third and Simon Danis-Pepin launched a rocket for his first in four games with the Walleye.

The scoring continued early in the second on a backhand goal by Sal Peralta at 2:12, dekeing to the net from the right wing for his seventh of the season. Robertson followed up at 4:56 with a redirection on a pass across the slot from Maxime Tanguay for a 5-3 Walleye advantage. The teams would trade goals around the midway point of the second and the score would remain 6-4 until period's end. Brett Wilson tipped in an Andy Thomas slapshot from the point for his 12th this season at 9:22 and Scooter Smith scored his 10th on another rush down the right wing at 10:01. With the Walleye mounting its second two-goal lead of the game, Rick Kowalsky pulled starter Gerald Coleman in favor of Dave Caruso who guided the Devils through the last ten minutes of the second without further scoring.

Trenton exploded with five with goals in the third to earn the come-from-behind victory, just as the Walleye had done Friday in Toledo. The scoring came early and often in the final stanza, starting with a pull-up slapshot from the right-wing circle by Chris Poli at 1:16 followed by Brett Wilson's rebound goal off a Slavomir Tomko slapshot at 2:18. Jack Combs potted his 21st of the season at 4:45 with a redirection of a Justin Coutu wrist shot from the left point for the Devils first lead since 2-1 in the first period.

Coutu became the sixth Devil to record multiple points when he fired a wide open slap shot from high in the slot for the Devils eighth goal of the evening. The score also put him at plus-four for the night, a game high, while J.C. Sawyer, conversely, was minus-five for Toledo. Prough earned his third and fourth points of the game assisting on the Coutu score and a Dan Eves' empty-netter in the last 30 seconds. That capped the offense in the highest scoring effort for Trenton since February 21, 2009 when the Devils topped South Carolina 9-7.

Dave Caruso stopped all 10 shots he faced in the final 30 minutes of the game. Replacing Gerald Coleman who stopped 14 of 20, Caruso came on halfway through the second and was so impressive in his barrage of sensational saves that he earned second star honors. His most noteworthy grab came inside nine minutes in the third during Toledo's fourth power play. A glorious setup from J.C. Sawyer put Tony Romano at point blank range, but Caruso spectacularly snatched it to his left. He made another sharp glove save around his ankles as the power play expired to keep the Devils ahead by two, and ultimately, a 9-6 win.

Neither side moved in the conference or division standings with no other American Conference games scheduled Wednesday. Trenton (25-26-4-5, 61pts) moves within one point of Gwinnett and Wheeling and within three points of the Reading Royals who hold the eighth and final playoff spot. Toledo (31-25-1-3, 66pts) leads Reading by two points for seventh place and battles Trenton again Friday, March 12 at 7pm for the sixth and final match between the teams this regular season.

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