The home team Crushers took advantage of key saves by Matthew Normore and of their scoring chances to build their first two goal advantage in the first period. The Tigers upped the pressure in the second frame and halved the gap on a goal by Kyle Petten, his sixth in eight games for the Tigers. Petten’s tally came on a rebound off a shot by Coleton Perry with the whole play developing off a face-off win by Pascal Valcourt in the Crushers’ end. Valcourt drew the puck back to Perry who moved it over to Pierre-Luc Lurette who blasted a one-timer wide of the net. The puck came off the back boards out to Perry in the right circle who shot it off the goalie’s pad and right to Petten who buried it. In the third period a beautiful pass from Brendan Bornstein at the point to Antoine Gauthier at the side of the crease resulted in the Tigers pulling even. Hunter Martin assisted on the play as well. The determined Crushers pushed back with a pair of their own in a five minute span to reestablish a two goal lead. However, just over a minute later on a powerplay, a blast from the point by Francis Thibeault blew by a screened Normore to draw Campbellton closer. Setting up the play were Joel Walker who dug the puck out of the corner and moved it back to Lurette who promptly slid it across to Thibeault for the blistering one-timer. It took the Tigers another three minutes to wipe out the Crushers’ lead and to send the game into OT. Again, Thibeault got in on the action by carrying the puck from behind Campbellton’s net and over center where he passed up to Valcourt just before the blueline. Valcourt dropped the puck to Perry who held it for a second but then returned it to Valcourt who was open in the face-off circle. After cutting hard on net, Valcourt lasered the puck between the goalie and the post to even the match at four apiece. Neither team scored in the five minute, three-on-three OT but in the ensuing shoot-out, only Jared Janke scored giving the Tigers the hard earned victory. In Campbellton’s net, Marc-Antoine Berube-Jalbert stopped thirty-three shots for the win. For his contributions at both ends of the ice, Thibeault was named the game’s first star.
Tigers Win In Shoot-out
