Jokers Of Doom Rebound With Gritty 3-2 Win

The Jokers of Doom came into Friday evening’s contest with Chaos off of a tough 6-5 loss to the Hurricanes which was also 2 losses in their last 3 games. They needed a win to get back on track and secure their playoff standing.

As per the norm, the Jokers don’t like to take early leads so in the first period Nick LaChance from Chaos scooped up a loose ball in the offensive zone, made a quick move and fired a wrist shot past Joker’s goalie Matt Dutily. Luckily the Joker’s like to make comebacks and only 1 minute and 22 seconds later Garrett Salkins fought hard for the ball in the corner, took control and glided to the side of the net and lifted a pretty backhander into the top of the net to make it 1-1. Then with just over a minute left in the period Ken Herren took a pass between the circles from Josh Berrelli and attempted to fire one high on the goalie but a Chaos defender deflected the shot sending it high in the air where seconds later it would bounce behind the net minder and into the goal giving the lucky Jokers a 2-1 lead heading to the second.

In the second period both teams would exchange one goal with Berrelli notching his 5th goal of the season stuffing in a nice backhand pass from Herren and ex-Joker defenseman Devon Sylvester getting his 5th on a long slap shot.

The final period would see a lot of back and forth action and a few good scoring opportunities but no one could find pay dirt as both goalies made all the key saves. Chaos pulled the goalie for the final couple of minutes and the ball bounced perilously close to the side of the goal in the closing seconds but the Jokers kept LaChance and Chaos off the scoreboard to hold on to the 3-2 win.

The Jokers stand at 6-3 with 12 points good for second place in the division. Their final contest is Wednesday February 21 versus last place Charlestown Chiefs (2-5-1)

Notes: Frank Melillo was a late scratch… Jokers were out shot again 28-27 and have been out shot in every game this season however their 202 overall shots is 3rd in the division… Herren now holds a 2 point lead in the race for the scoring title with 17 points… Jokers were 0-3 on the power play including a 2:00 penalty they couldn’t cash in on remaining at 1 pp goal for the season.