Watertown Edges Danbury in Shootout
Watertown, NY- The Danbury Hat Tricks ended their two game weekend swing with a physical matchup in Watertown against the defending Commisioner's Cup Champion Watertown Wolves. For the first time all season, the Hat Tricks were outshot heavily in every period of the game and still got the matchup into overtime, but could not complete the victory in overtime or the shootout.
Danbury jumped into the first period lead with a Dmitry Kuznetsov goal 14:47 into the first period and held that lead into the first intermission.
The Hat Tricks doubled their lead on a Brendan Dowler bomb 2:23 into the second period. Watertown answered at the 7:49 mark with a Trevor Lord goal and the score held at 2-1 into the second intermission.
Watertown tilted the ice heavily in their favor 11-3 in the third period and were rewarded for their efforts with a Matt Brown power play goal. Danbury got an extended four-on-three power play late in regulation that carried into overtime, but could not capitalize on the chance and the game went beyond the overtime session and into a shootout for only the second time on the Hat Trick's season.
For the first time this year, Danbury fell in the shootout. Michael Marchesan and Dmirty Kuznetsov were both stopped while Mathias Tellstrom and Matt Brown scored for the Wolves to deal the Hat Tricks their second overtime loss of the season.
Brian Wilson starred for the Hat Tricks in net, stopping 39 of 41 shots he faced.
Gregory Hussey stopped 18 of 20 shots in the Watertown net.
Watertown improves to 9-10-0 and sits at 23 points for third place in the FPHL's Empire Division.
Danbury drops to 16-1-2, and gains a point for the regulation tie, increasing their total to 45 points, staying two points ahead of the Binghamton Black Bears for the top spot in the Empire Division, but fall to two points behind the Columbus River Dragons for first place in the FPHL overall.
Connor Lind, Daniel Amesbury, and Luke Richards all recorded one assist each.
The Hat Tricks return home for the first of four straight matchups with the Delaware Thunder on December 23rd. Puck drops at the Danbury Ice Arena at 7:30 PM ET.