Comment 1:

Goalie Glimpse
This was a really high scoring game from both teams, with Steven Vassallo having a weak night, letting in 4 goals on 11 shots. The stand out netminder from this one was Ryan Aaron. Coming in to relieve Vassallo 15 minutes into the first period, he had a very solid night in relief. His defense played a big role, allowing only 11 shots, but he only let one second period goal in on the powerplay - good for a 0.909 save percentage. Aaron was rock solid besides that, and was the reason that Newfoundland was able to get back in the game after surrendering 3 goals in the first 8 minutes of the game. Coming in as the backup, Aaron made a few huge stops to calm down the team, and his stout play inspired them to storm back to within one with 3 minutes left. (146 words)

Comment 2:

Rookie of the Game:
Jukka Timonen of the Newfoundland Beserkers had a very solid night as a rookie defender. Playing 21:43 of ice time for the Beserkers, including almost 4 minutes of power play time and 1 minute of PK time, he did it all for the young team. Timonen chipped in 2 assists - one on Newfoundland's lone first period goal in an attempt to stop the bleeding, and the second on a sweet backdoor pass for Disisde Dayudie on the power play early in the third to cut the lead to two. Timonen finished -1 on the night, which is pretty good considering he plays top line minutes, and Carolina exploded out of the gate. Jukka has 5 goals and 9 assists on the year, so expect this game to fuel a points streak leading into playoffs.

Comment 3:

Shot Block of the Game:
This goes out to a trio of blocks by Carolina rookie Ambacas Cuddles. Early in the second, with the Kraken up 5-1, the Beserkers won the face off in the Carolina zone. Desperate to make it a closer game, they loosed a flurry of shots on net. The first one by Thomas Vanice missed the net, and then Rintarou Okabe fired one off. Cuddles blocked that shot, as well as the subsequent shot 4 seconds later by Vanice. Cuddles was saved from having more bruises when a penalty was called. Then later in the 3rd, with the clock winding down and Newfoundland trying to send the game to overtime, Cuddles blocked a Steve Harrington shot that was the 6th shot by the Beserkers in a span of a minute. This key block helped seal the game for the Kraken.