Sports stats



Jackals Win Wild Weekend Opener Over Royals, 8-5

March 18, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Elmira Jackals News Release


Reading, Pa. - The Elmira Jackals (31-24-6-3) won a seesaw game over the Reading Royals (38-19-2-3) on Friday night at the Sovereign Center, 8-5, to extend their season-long point streak to seven games (5-0-0-2). Yannick Tifu had a hat trick and two assists while Justin Donati also pitched in five points with two goals and three assists as Elmira scored eight times in a game for the first time this season.

Oren Eizenman kickstarted the Jackals to a 2-0 lead with a pair of goals early. Eizenman wristed a puck in from the slot off of a feed from Drew Paris off the right pad of Royals goaltender Matt Dalton and into the net to make it 1-0 on the power play at 5:57 of the first period. The Toronto native then scored a highlight-reel goal at 10:54 of the opening stanza to make it 2-0. Eizenman skated to the offensive zone from center, stickhandled through a Royal in the right circle, and then lifted the puck over Dalton from the doorstep for the two-goal advantage. Eric Regan extended his point streak to five games (2g-4a) with an assist on the play.

Yannick Riendeau fired a puck in on a power play off of a rebound in the right circle to make it 2-1 in favor of the Jackals at 13:07 of the first.

Tifu scored the first of his trio of tallies under a minute after Reading's opening goal. Donati spun around from the right circle and fed an unmarked Tifu to the left circle. Tifu's shot beat Dalton stick side to put Elmira up 3-1 at 14:03. The goal served as Tifu's 300th career ECHL point. Donati increased his point streak to five games (4g-5a) on the play.

Ben Gordon's backhand from the inner left hash mark soared over the glove of Jackals goatender Jared DeMichiel to bring the Royals to within a goal, 3-2, at 14:52 of the first.

Andrew Sarauer scored the first of his three goals on a five-on-three power-play strike. Sarauer drove in a backdoor feed from Chris Blight from the low, right circle to make it 3-3 at 19:11 of the first.

Sarauer connected early in the second period from the right circle to give Reading its first and only lead of the night, 4-3, 55 seconds in. The five-on-three power-play goal was the Royals' third man-advantage marker of the night.

The Royals went on another five-on-three power play late in the second period. Tifu, however, would give the Jackals an unlikely goal to tie the score, 4-4. The Brossard, Quebec product picked off a blue-line pass in his defensive end, skated in on Dalton through the slot on a breakaway and beat the netminder five hole at 18:31. The short-handed goal was Tifu's league-leading fifth of the season and Elmira's ECHL-best 16th of 2010-2011. It was the first time this season Elmira had scored a short-handed goal when down two men.

Justin Donati broke a 4-4 tie with a laser early in the third period. Five seconds into a power play, Donati blasted a puck from the right circle short side and over the glove of Dalton at 1:13 to put the Jackals up, 5-4.

Sarauer wristed a puck in from the slot at 8:02 for the hat-trick goal to tie the game, 5-5. The power-play goal was Reading's fourth of the game. It was the first time since Feb. 22, 2009 that the Jackals allowed four power-play goals in a game.

Donati and the Jackals continued to pepper the Royals, though. Just 45 seconds after Reading had tied the game, Donati put the Jackals in front for good. Ryan Hillier set up Donati from the right-wing boards, and Donati's wrist shot flew past Dalton's stick to put Elmira on top, 6-5.

With just over two and a half minutes left in the third period, Donati stole a puck in front of the net and shot a puck that rebounded off of Dalton to Dale Mahovsky in front. Mahovsky reached out and backhanded the puck off the left post and into the net to give the Jackals a two-goal lead at 17:24, 7-5.

Tifu put the game away with his second hat trick in 12 days, snapping a feed from Donati at 19:34 into an empty net with Dalton pulled as Elmira secured the 8-5 win.

DeMichiel earned his first win as a Jackal, making 21 saves in net. The rookie from Avon, Conn. improved his overall record to 15-10-0-1. Dalton stopped 21 shots as well as his record fell to 17-11-1-0.

Elmira took sole possession of fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings at 71 points with the victory.

The Jackals are now 6-6-1-0 against the Royals this season and have won consecutive games against their Atlantic Division rival. Elmira trails Reading by 10 points for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Royals' division lead was 24 points before game action on Feb. 25.

Donati upped his league-leading scoring total to 92 points with his second five-point game of the season. His 66 assists also top the league while Yannick Tifu's 45 check in second in the ECHL. The two have each scored 19 points against the Royals in 13 games this season to pace the Jackals.

Elmira is now 9-1-0-2 under head coach Robbie Nichols.

The game was Elmira's first in this seven-game point streak that was not decided by one goal.

The Jackals' last eight-goal output was on Feb. 19, 2010 against Reading in an 8-3 win at First Arena.

The Jackals and the Royals play the second of three-straight games on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. at the Sovereign Center.

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...

ECHL Stories from March 18, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Elmira Jackals Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central