Trenton 5, Johnstown 0

The Devils used a hat trick from an unlikely source - Brad Mills - as they opened up the flood gates on the Chiefs, winning 5-0 last night in front of 3,096 at the Sovereign Bank Arena.

Trenton looked like a completely different team than they have looked all year long as they excelled in every part of the game last night.  The passes were crisp and targeted, the fore and back checking was working, and they even managed to finish on the opportunities they were given by a Johnstown team that has not won in eight games, a streak stretching back to December 7.

Brad Mills opened the Trenton deluge at the end of the first period, with three seconds remaining when he flew out of the penalty box to intercept a Johnstown pass and wrist it over the left shoulder of Chiefs netminder Mike Brown.

Mills would pass off the scoring mantle for the next two goals in the second when both Stephen Wood and Jim Henkel converted on passes by Colin Pepperall at 6:45 and 11:54 respectively to put Trenton up three.  Henkel's goal came on a very nice give-and-go.

Mills would pick up the scoring again later with 2:53 remaining in the second when he took a pass from Eric Castonguay and chipped it in.  The hats would come flying from the stands at 10:51 of the third when Mills completed his first career hat trick with a wrister.  Pepperal and Henkel were credited with assists on the goal.

Overshadowed slightly by Mills' performance was another fine perfomance in net by Devils netminder Dave Caruso.  Caruso stopped all nineteen shots he faced en route to the victory.  Johnstown starter Mike Brown had a miserable night, stopping only twenty of twenty four shots before giving way to Ryan Nie in the third.  Nie stopped fifteen of sixteen shots.

Trenton will try and keep this momentum and their three game winning streak going tonight when they take on the Elmira Jackals at 7:30 at the Sovereign Bank Arena.

My Three Stars:
1) Brad Mills - Hat Trick.
2) Colin Pepperall - 4 Assists.
3) Dave Caruso - 19 Saves, Shutout.

~Titans Fan 25~

Royals 5, Devils 2

It was a game of scoring streaks as the Trenton Devils fell to the Reading Royals in front of 4, 652 at the Sovereign Center in Reading last night to give the Royals their first win over the Devils this season in four attempts.

It was the Royals who would jump on top first with the first three goals of the match, the first coming at 8:20 of the first when Marc Cavosie blew past a Trenton defender on the left side, faked a cut to the top of the crease before spinning around the back of the net and stuffing the puck home far side for his fifth goal of the season.  Reading's second goal would come on the powerplay at 14:45 of the first when Dany Roussin knocked home a rebound of a Patrik Hersley blast from the blue line.

The Royals weren't finished there as they continued their onslaught in the second period, when at the 17:18 mark, when Brock Hooton ripped a shot from the left circle that tricked through Caruso to give the Royals a 3-0 lead.

Only two minutes later, however, Royals center Malcolm MacMillian was sent to the box for tripping, and when his teammate Shawn Germain joined him half a minute later, it put the Devils on a 5-on-3 powerplay, on which they wasted no time getting back into the game when with four seconds left in the period, Eric Castonguay scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season when he ripped a shot through traffic in front of the net from the low point.  The Devils would score again, on another powerplay, at 6:12 of the third on Colin Pepperall's first goal of the year to climb back within one.

3-2 would be as far as Trenton would come, however, as the Royals put the game away in the second half of the third period when Marc Cavosie would score his second goal of the game, this one on the powerplay, to give the Royals a 4-2 lead.  Bracken Kearns would add an empty net goal at the end to give the Royals the 5-2 victory.

Newly-acquired Terry Denike stopped 26 of 28 shot to pick up the win for Reading, while Dave Caruso stopped 39 of 43 shots for the Devils loss.

My Three Stars:
1) Marc Cavosie (REA) - 2 Goals, 1 Assist.
2) Brett Hemingway (REA) - 2 Assists.
3) Brock Hooton (REA) - GW Goal.

~Titans Fan 25~

Jackals 5, Devils 4 (SO)

The Trenton Devils gave the Jackals all they could handle last night, but still fell short in a shootout loss before 3, 576 at First Arena in Elmira last night.

The Jackals jumped all over the Devils early with Trenton goalie Jason Smith continuing his pattern of giving up multi-goal games to individual players as Frank Littlejohn would score the first two goals of the game, the first only a minute and a half into the contest and the second coming on the powerplay at the 8:07 mark.  Littlejohn's powerplay marker would snap Trenton's penalty-kill streak at 17.  Brett Pilkington assisted on both goals.  Elmira would push the lead to 3-0 in the second when Benoit Doucet scored at the 6:04 mark, but the goal would only serve to spur the Devils on.

On a powerplay of their own, Matt Rogers would score his fourth goal in four games as he wristed a feed from Trevor
Kell and beat Elmira netminder Joel Martin to his left.  The Devils continued their momentum
into the third when at 3:39, Eric Castonguay took a pass from Colin Pepperall and blew past his defenceman before going top-right on Martin.

Elmira would score again to make to score 4-2 on Chaz Johnson's fourth goal of the season seven minutes later, but that would not deter the Devils comeback, as just sixty nine seconds later, Tony Zancanaro scored his fouth goal of the season, and then nearing the end of the game, with 55 seconds remaining, veteran Jim Henkel found the back of the net as he was falling to tie the game at four.  

After a scoreless overtime period, they went to a shootout which was not kind to the Devils.  Martin stopped all three Devils that faced him, while Jason Smith was only able to stop one of four Jackals.  The 3-0 shootout loss translated into the 5-4 game loss.

Joel Martin stopped 21 of 25 shots for Elmira to pick up the win, while Jason Smith stopped 32 of 36 shots for the loss.

My Three Stars:
1) Frank Littlejohn (ELM) - 2 Goals.
2) Brett Pilkington (ELM) - 2 Assists.
3) Pierre-Luc Faubert (ELM) - 2 Assists.

~Titans Fan 25~

Cyclones 4, Devils 3

The Trenton Devils got off to another good start last night at Sovereign Bank Arena, but failed to hold on to a 2-0 lead as they dropped another one to the Cincinnati Cylones 4-3 last night in Trenton.

After a scoreless first period, the Devils wasted no time in the second getting on the board, scoring two goals within half a minute of each other.  The first, at 4:18, was scored by Tony Zancanaro who broke into the zone with Trevor Kell and put a shot off the pads of Cyclones netminder Dov Grumet-Morris and in.  The second goal, just 25 seconds later, would come after Matt Rogers intercepted a Cyclones pass and streked in on Grumet-Morris and wristed the puck over his shoulder to give the Devils a 2-0 lead.

The party would end there, however, as the Cyclones came storming back later in the period.  At 11:36, Matt Syroczynski scored his fifth goal of the season to close the gap to 2-1 at the second intermission.

The third period was a nightmare for Devils fans as Thomas Beauregard would score two goals in the period, and Gerard Martin would net one bewteen the Beauregard goals to give the Cyclones a 4-2 lead.  Stephen Wood added what turned out to be a meaningless goal when he scored from the point with less than a minute to go in the game to set the final score at 4-3.

Dov Grumet-Morris stopped 21 of 24 shots for the win, while Dave Caruso stopped 39 of 43 shots to be saddled with the loss.  The Devils next take the ice Wednesday in Elmira.

My Three Stars:
1) Thomas Beauregard (CIN) - 2 Goals, 1 Assist.
2) Matt Syroczynski (CIN) - 1 Goal.
3) Dave Caruso (TRE) - 39 Saves.

~Titans Fan 25~

Trenton 3, Wheeling 1

It was like watching a different team last night at the Sovereign Bank Arena as the Trenton Devils played well in all aspects of the game to secure a 3-1 victory over the visiting Wheeling Nailers.  It was also their second straight victory over the Nailers and their third win in their last five games.

It would be Trenton who would jump out of the gates running with all three of their goals in the first period.  The first was defenceman Matt Cohen's first professional goal which occured at 6:30 when he scored from the point.  The second goal, at 11:06, came from a spectacular solo effort by old friend Mark Pandolfo, who carried the puck on his own through the offensive zone and wristing a shot past Wheeling goalie David Brown.  Jim Henkel was credited with an assist on the goal for winning the faceoff.  The third goal came at 17:11 when Eric Castonguay scored his team leading sixth goal from a feed off the stick of Joe Rooney.  The onslaught would chase Brown from between the pipes, as it was Martin Houle who came out to start the second.

Wheeling did manage one goal in the second frame when at 10:12 Vin Hellemeyer scored, and they did have several close calls later in the game when three pucks clanged off either the crossbar or the post, but all would stay out securing the 3-1 victory for the Devils.

Dave Caruso stopped 31 of 32 shots to pick up the win for the Devils, while David Brown could only stop six of nine shots en route to the loss for Wheeling.  Martin Houle played very well in relief of Brown, stopping all 29 shots he faced.

The Devils on the whole seemed energized by the additions of Mark Pandolfo and Colin Pepperall.  Here's hoping they can keep that energy level up tonight against the Cincinnati Cyclones.

My Three Stars:
1) Mark Pandolfo (TRE) - 1 Goal.
2) Joe Rooney (TRE) - 2 Assists.
3) Martin Houle (WHE) - 29 Saves on 29 Shots

~Titans Fan 25~