Jackals fall 3-2 in overtime

November 20, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Elmira Jackals News Release


In front of their fifth sell-out crowd of the 2009-2010 season, the Elmira Jackals fell 3-2 in overtime against the Wheeling Nailers on Friday night at First Arena. This matches the Jackals 2008-2009 sell-out total, which tied for the ECHL lead.

Chris Davis' first professional goal won the game at 3:59 of overtime. The Nailers improved to 5-7-1-1 with the victory, while the Jackals fell to 8-4-2-1.

Chris Capraro took a long feed from former Jackal Slavomir Tomko at 1:45 of the first period and skated in on Jackals goaltender Michael-Lee Teslak and beat him stick side for the 1-0 advantage for the Nailers.

The Jackals tied the game early in the second period. Maxime Gratchev scored his sixth goal of the season, taking a rebound in the left circle and firing it past Nailers netminder Adam Berkhoel to tie the game 1-1.

At 13:09 of the second period, Tomko gave the Nailers the lead on the power play. Tomko fired a puck from the blue line which found its way through a screen and beat Teslak for the 2-1 Nailers lead.

Maxime Gratchev tied the game at 11:13 of the third period on an assist from Tyler Donati. During a scramble in front, Gratchev shot the puck off of Berkhoel's back from a sharp angle, which bounced into the net to make it 2-2.

The game went to overtime, and after a few good Jackals scoring chances, Nailers forward Casey Pierro-Zabotel found Chris Davis skating on the left wing into the offensive zone, and Davis beat Teslak for his first professional goal at 3:59 of overtime for the 3-2 Nailers victory.

Teslak made 22 saves on 25 Nailers shots as he fell to 4-1-1-1 on the season. Berkhoel made 33 saves on 35 Jackals bids for his third victory of the season, improving to 3-2-0-1.

With his two goals, Maxime Gratchev moved into a tie with Bakersfield's Dan Sexton for second place among rookie scorers with 17 points, 11 points behind leader Justin Donati. Tyler Donati's two assists moved him into a tie for first place in ECHL scoring with Justin Donati. Tyler Donati extended his ECHL-leading scoring streak to 11 games. The 4,055 fans were the third most at a Jackals game this season.

The Jackals host Wheeling on Saturday night at 7:35 p.m. at First Arena. First Arena will celebrate Blade's birthday, and fans will receive team photos from Curly's Chicken House along with reusable bags from Wegmans.



ECHL Stories from November 20, 2009


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