Titans Defeat Northeast 4-3
October 6, 2024 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
New Jersey Titans News Release
A three goal third period proved to be enough to power the Titans to their first victory since September 14th by defeating the Northeast Generals 4-3 on Saturday night at the Canton Ice House in Canton, Massachusetts. Charlie Mistretta picked up his first win in the North American Hockey League by stopping 27 of the 30 shots sent his way.
For the third consecutive game, New Jersey found themselves down in the first period when they conceded a goal 3:11 into the game. Determined not to go into the first intermission trailing, the Titans peppered shots on the Generals' goal. With under three minutes remaining, Kyle Kim forced a turnover just inside the Titans zone, allowing Ryan Shaw to turn up ice with possession. A touch pass to Jack Hillier put the Sacred Heart commit on a 2 on 1 with Nikolas Doumas, who made his NAHL debut. Similar to Papaspyropolous's goal on Friday night, Hillier used the rookie as a decoy before wristing a shot home for his first goal of the season. New Jersey outshot Northeast 16-6 in the first period and went into the intermission tied at 1.
A clean second period saw no scoring, no penalties, and New Jersey getting more pucks on net by outshooting Northeast 15-10. On the power play and with over 8 minutes gone by in the third, New Jersey took a page out of the Generals' playbook when a pass from Nikita Meshcheryakov found Jack Hillier open on the side of the Northeast net. With defenders collapsing low, Hillier picked up his second point of the night with a pass onto the tape of Logan Renkowski alone on the back door for the Harvard commit's third goal of the season. However, the Generals responded quickly, with a deflected shot from the point to draw level once more.
New Jersey's offense would not be finished. A sneaky backhand pass from Hillier found James Schneid by himself in front of the net for his first in the NAHL. Blake Jones had the other assist as the Titans retook the lead. Shawn Leary added an insurance marker with 3:09 to go when he outmuscled a Northeast defender to give himself a breakaway. New Jersey's leading scorer from the blueline deked the Generals goaltender to the ice before going upstairs for his third of the season. Northeast would cut the lead to one when they scored with the goalie pulled, but the Titans held on defeat the Generals 4-3, snapping a 6-game winless streak.
With the win, the Titans move out of the basement of the East Division and hold a 2-6-1 record. They will be in action again on Tuesday, October 8th, when they travel to Connecticut to face the Hat Tricks for the first time in the regular season. Danbury took both preseason games in a home and home matchup in the beginning of September. Faceoff is scheduled for 8:00pm, and fans are encouraged to select the "Away" option when watching the game on NAHLtv.com.
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North American Hockey League Stories from October 6, 2024
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