Jackals Trimmed In Shootout 2-1

October 26, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Elmira Jackals News Release


ELMIRA, NY - The Elmira Jackals struck first, but the Johnstown Chiefs had the final say in a 2-1 shootout victory Friday night at First Arena. For the Jackals, it was their first loss of the season in three games and it came in front of a second consecutive sellout crowd of 3,967.

A scoreless opening period in which Elmira outshot Johnstown 12-6 was punctuated by the physical return of winger Bruce Watson. Appearing in his first game of the season, Watson dropped the gloves just two seconds into the game with the Chiefs' Jason Spence and later delivered a couple of crushing checks on Nathan Saunders in the first period.

Physical play aside, the Jackals came up empty on four power play chances in the opening period (0-for7 on the night) including a 1:55 two-man advantage and were scoreless on two chances in the middle period before a harmless shot led to the period's only score.

With only 1:31 to go in the second, rookie Pierre-Luc Faubert let go of a soft drive from the left wing just inside the blue line. The untouched drive seemed to surprise Chiefs' goaltender Ryan Nie (36 saves) and slipped past him for a 1-0 Jackals advantage. For Faubert, it was his second goal of the season and extended his scoring streak to three games.

Randy Rowe notched the equalizer with 6:45 left in regulation, collecting a Ryan Garlock rebound and firing home a high drive on Jackals netminder Dan LaCosta (28 saves) to knot the game at 1-1.

Both goalies were shaky early on, but got stronger as the game progressed. Nie was particularly impressive with a pair of glove stops, one on Scott May at the front of a 3-on-1 rush and denying Frank Littlejohn on a breakaway with less than four minutes left in the third period.

With the Jackals out shooting the Chiefs 4-1 in overtime, Nie barred the door and set up the shootout to decide the contest.

Johnstown struck quickly with strikes from Jean Desroschers and J.D. Corbin and never looked back. Elmira struggled to solve Nie, with only Kevin Ulanski's attempt eluding him. At 2-1, Alex Imbeault sealed the game in the Chiefs' fifth round with a backander high over LaCosta.

The Jackals are next in action Sunday afternoon when they entertain the South Carolina Stingrays in a 4:05 p.m. draw at First Arena in the only meeting of the year between the clubs. Tickets for all Jackals home games are available at the First Arena box office (Gray Street) open Monday - Friday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. and this Sunday beginning at 2 p.m., Ticketmaster charge-by-phone by calling 722-3711 and on-line at www.ticketmaster.com.



ECHL Stories from October 26, 2007


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