The Norwich Sea Captains held a lead seven minutes into the third period, but three unanswered goals by the New Jersey Titans proved to be enough for the guest to earn a 5-4 victory on Friday afternoon, October 29 at the RoseGarden Ice Arena.
The game would begin physically, with Riley Haviland ejected less than three minutes into the first period after a check from behind that ended the afternoon for Norwich defenseman Nicholas Sachs. The Sea Captains were unable to convert on the ensuing major power play, and New Jersey jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Noah Scherff’s first of the season.
Norwich successfully killed off the remainder of a power play to begin the second period, but the Titans converted quickly afterwards as Teito Ishigaki bested Norwich starting goaltender Alex Tsymbalyuk to make it 2-0. The Sea Captains netted two second period goals of their own to knot the score at two apiece after two periods of play. Drew Schemmel stripped a Titans defenseman of the puck and ripped a shot to the top corner of the net to get the hosts within one at the 5:38 mark before Trevor Souza struck on a Norwich power play at 10:24 of the middle stanza to tie the game. Ethan Ranger and Tim Hayden assisted on the goal.
Norwich added two unassisted tallies early in the third period as Ranger’s laser found the far side of the net on a rush 1:30 into the period and Jack Kinahan converted another turnover from a Titans’ defenseman into a short lived two goal lead. The Titans answered back the next shift and then added to more goals to seal the victory.
“Today’s loss was a tough one to take. We held what felt like a reasonably comfortable lead after battling back and scoring four consecutive goals to dig out of an early two goal deficit, but we allowed New Jersey’s forwards to get neutral zone speed a few too many times in the third. This is a game that we need to learn and grow from as we develop as a team,” said head coach Kevin Cunningham.