Brampton, ON– The comeback fell just short on Friday night as the beast topped the Admirals 4-3 at the Powerade Centre.
The Beast tallied twice in the opening period taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Early in the first period it was the Brampton penalty skill that got the scoring started. Jordan Henry let loose a shot from the point the kicked back out to the defenseman who put home his own rebound. Brampton took a 1-0 lead just 2:21 into the first period. Midway thru the period the Beast would get offense from their penalty kill once again. Brandon MacLean was awarded a penalty shot while shorthanded and capitalized. MacLean wristed the shot past Reichenbach, giving Brampton a 2-0 lead after the first.
Brampton would add two more goals in the second period. Defenseman Cody Donaghey cut into the high slot sent a wrist shot into the back of the net, pushing the lead to 3-0 7:40 into the middle period. Five minutes later with the Beast on the power play Donaghey would strike again. Alex Foster sent a pass across the crease to Donaghey and the defenseman tapped it past the Norfolk netminder, giving the Beast a 4-0 lead after the second.
In the third period the Admiral offense came to life scoring three times in 3:03 to cut the lead to one. Shorthanded Tommy Schutt caught Chris Driedger out of position and moved the puck around the goaltender, who had come out to play it, getting the Admirals on the board. Shortly after that the Admirals broke through again. Grant Besse took a pass from Brodie Dupont and wristed a shot past Driedger from the left circle, bringing the Admirals within one. On the next shift the scoring continued. Sam Ftorek wound up with a slap shot from the right point that found its way through traffic and to the back of the net. The goal was Ftorek’s first as an Admiral, and cut the lead to 4-3. With the goaltender pulled late in the period the Admirals were unable to score again as they fell 4-3 on Friday night.
Ty Reichenbach made 32 saves on 36 shots in the loss, while Chris Driedger stopped 34 of 37 shots.
Norfolk continues a three-in-three weekend as they take on the Adriondack Thunder on Saturday night.
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