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March 11, 2019 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights News Release

Tuesday, March 12th-Middletown Ice World @ 7pm

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights (20-26-4, 44pts.)

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New Jersey Titans (26-24-1, 53pts.)

What's the Story?

The Titans and Knights will play their third game in the last five days, with each team looking to bounce back from being swept on the weekend. Wilkes-Barre came up short against the Johnstown Tomahawks in two meetings at 1st Summit Arena, while New Jersey got a punch in the gut being swept in Jamestown against the Rebels, scoring once in each game and being outscored 11-2 on the weekend.

Despite the Titans struggles for much of the last two months, the club still sits third in the east and continue to inch closer to clinching a playoff spot. With nine games left, their magic number is 11 to clinch a spot in the postseason.

Urban

Knights goalie Zach Stejskal was pulled in the first game of the weekend against the Tomahawks, as Head Coach and General Manager Tom Kowal decided to go with rookie Jacob Urban for the third period. The PA native stopped all 10 shots he faced and has gone 36-for-36 in his four periods of work with the grey and blue.

Stejskal would return to the crease Saturday and present a stellar body of work with 46 saves, but the Knights do have a positive to look at with Urban. The club looks to have a solid backup option for Stejskal if the Minnesota-Duluth commit needs some rest in the final stretch.

Garden State Opponent

Tuesday marks the 12th and final meeting of the year against the Titans. With a win, the Knights can earn a season split with last year's playoff foes. The Titans lead the series 6-5, but the last meeting in New Jersey went the way of the Knights. On February 6th, A 2-1 decision off a Jordan Strand game-winning-goal made the difference. The clubs met later in the month at Revolution Ice Centre where the Knights opened up a 3-0 lead before eventually winning the tilt, 5-3.

For What It's Worth

Since the calendar flipped to 2019, the Knights have gone 9-7-3 over 19 games. The Titans have posted an 8-9-1 record in the same stretch.

New Jersey gives up the 19th most goals in the NAHL at 169. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is right in the middle ranking 12th with 144.

Titans leading scorer Ryan Naumovski is two points shy of 100 for his NAHL career.

With the NAHL Knights, Adrian Danchenko has 72 career points after scoring in Saturday's game against Johnstown. The winger is two shy of tying Paul Maust for 4th in all-time Knights scoring. He is also five points from Kurtis Karlson, who sits 2nd behind only Matthew Kidney (102) in career points while wearing a Knights sweater.

Check out the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights Statistics

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