By Terry MartinĀ
The Saints took on the Storm in a Friday night tilt which saw an exciting first period, with Brophy Dunne delivering a thundering hit early in the game. Both teams brought their ?A? game tonight, along with a furious pace throughout. The teams remained tied after the first period and the shots were 13-8 for the Saints.
The second period saw the Saints and Storm in a defensive battle, no goals but plenty of shots early. The Saints peppered Garin Bjorklund but could not get that first goal. The Storm broke the tie with a bad bounce in front and Paycen Bjorklund finished. The Storm then capitalized on a rush by Brett Meerman just one minute after their first goal. The total shots after the period were 35-15 for the Saints.
The third period saw the Saints do much more of the same offensively, they just could not get anything past the Storm goaltender in the early minutes of the third. The Saints finally solve Bjorklund and cut the lead to one half way through the 3rd period. Max Giangualano quickly answered for the Storm by scoring in the same fashion as Hall. Jake Aston then found himself alone on the backdoor and the Saints, again, cut the lead to one. The Saints then tied the game late with Jovanovic finding the puck in the crease, and sending the game to overtime.
In the extra frame, the teams put some great chances on net, but no one could bury one into the back of the net.
The game eventually went to a shootout where 12 shooters had to go down the ice before a winner was decided. Nick Leyer scored on the first opportunity of the shootout and Luigi Benincasa was the hero to give the Saints the win.
Final shots were 49-30 for the Saints as they improve to 3-0 on the season.
The Saints will battle the Storm again at home, tomorrow at 7 p.m.