Detroit Falcons (2-7-1) @ Vancouver Whalers (7-3-0)

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Hello and welcome to Simulation Juniors action from Vancouver, BC. I'm Jamie Hawkins from TSN here with a recap of game 54 of the season with the Detroit Falcons facing the Vancouver Whalers. Detroit has stumbled out of the gate posting an embarrassing 2-7-1 record. Espen Knutsen Jr has been fantastic for the Falcons while the rest of the team hasn't been fantastic. Vancouver on the otherhand has been fantastic so far. Though the team has posted a 7-3-0 record through 10 games, no players have really been carrying the load. The team relies on a much more balanced attack. The starting goaltenders are:

Jakub Hasek (2-7-1) for Detroit and Kasperi Braulin (3-2-0) for Vancouver.

Lets go to the first period highlights.

1st Period:
To say this period was all Whalers is an understatement. The Falcons couldn't stay out of the box with minors to Maugher, Rome and Gumba putting the team at the disadvantage for most of the period. The penalty kill and Jakub Hasek were the stars of this period. Without Hasek, Vancouver would have easily came away with both the early lead and likely the game. Vancouver sent 16 shots towards the Detroit net and Hasek turned away all 16. Braulin was no slouch either, saving all 6 shots he faced.

2nd period:
Detroit cannot seem to stay out of the box. After giving Vancouver 3 man advantages in the first period, Detroit matched that in the 2nd period. Gumba might be looking at more time on the bench in the near future as he took two more penalties to go along with his period call while Knutsen Jr also made his way to the box to end the frame. The Whalers finally broke the tie at 4:26 on the powerplay when Theo Morgan found the back of the next. His third of the year was assisted by Sami Raanta and Aaron Wilson, making Detroit and Gumba pay for their poor discipline. Detroit wouldn't go down so easily though. After Egor Kucherov was called for tripping, Detroit managed to wire one home on the ensuing powerplay when Josh Driver netted his fourth goal of the season. Raino Kyllonen and Miikka Salo had the assists on the play. Hasek again was sensational in the second turning away 9 of 10 shots for 25 saves after 2 while Detroit could only managed 9.

3rd period:
If the Falcons manage to pull out a victory, remember the name Jakub Hasek. Hasek was again great in the 3rd period, turning away an additional 11 shots to give him a total of 36 saves after 3 periods. The Falcons were once again flat in a game their goaltender was giving them. Though they could only manage 4 shots in the period, they did find the back of the net at the 2:52 mark when Franz Cooper scored his 5th of the season from Miikka Salo and Aaron Freakin Rome. Though Vancouver was the much better team throughout the period, they could not crack Jakub Hasek. In the dying minutes, Vancouver made a last ditch effort to tie the game when they pulled Braulin for the extra attacker. This would prove to be beneficial when Borromini Cannellini scored his 4th of the season from Jax Duggan to tie the game at 2. This would hold up and send the game to overtime, with the shots 38-13 for the dominate Whalers.

Overtime and Shootout:
The overtime period was not very eventful with neither team having much breakthrough. Vancouver had control most of the overtime but still only managed 2 shots. Braulin did not have to worry much with the Falcons managing 0 shots before the clock hit. Braulin ended with 11 saves on 13 shots while Jakub Hasek stonewalled the Whalers with 38 saves on 40 shots. Travis Bitties of the Falcons started the shootout, attempting to go five hole on Braulin who easily turned his away. Next up was Jon Forty-One of the Whalers who fooled Hasek with a fantastic deke to make it 1-0 Whalers. This would hold up as Gabster TheMagnuficent and Franz Cooper couldn't solve Braulin while Petr Mikulak was turned away by Hasek. Even though Hasek had his best game of the season, Vancouver pulled away with a hard earned 3-2 win.

Your 3 star selections of the game!

Your third star from the Vancouver Whalers! Borromini Cannellini
Your second star from the Vancouver Whalers! Theo Morgan
Your first star from the Detroit Falcons! Jakub Hasek