Facing a two-goal deficit against the Maryland Black Bears in the first period, the Johnstown Tomahawks found themselves in a hole in front of the 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial crowd.
Johnstown grabbed momentum in the second period, tallying three markers amidst seven shots on goal to turn the tables on Maryland. Five different players scored as the Tomahawks began the two-game series with a 5-3 victory Friday night in North American Hockey League East Division action.
“It’s a great response,” Johnstown coach Jared Kersner said. “Obviously, we were down 2-0, but we weren’t playing bad. We had a couple turnovers that just ended up in our net. We get one right back to get us back and confident. We were really, really good defensively tonight.
“We got a lot of counters off of great defensive posture where we could have had six, seven or eight goals because we had tons of 2-on-1s, breakaways that we didn’t capitalize on. If you have good defensive posture, it’s going to lead to some offensive chances. I think the guys did an unbelievable job.”
Johnstown (9-9-2) handled adversity well Friday night, responding to Maryland goals with scoring strikes within 21 seconds of their counterparts twice to cut into the Black Bears’ momentum.
“Those kinds of shifts are very important to get a goal right after,” Johnstown’s Dallas Potter said after his first goal of the season tied the game at 3-all. “It gives us all the momentum and it takes it away from them.”
“We call those critical-moment shifts,” Kersner said. “If you can win critical moments, you can tear the life out of them. We were able to do that at times. It was such a great team effort.”
Answering the bell is a common theme for the Tomahawks over the past 11 games, going 8-2-1. Goaltender Zack Ferris made 29 saves as he improved to 8-2-0 in net.
“They’ve been doing that for 11 games now,” Kersner said.
“We were 1-7-1, a slow start. They looked at themselves in the mirror. They agreed to play for each other. That’s what we’ve done over the last 11 to get to 8-2-1. Zack’s been great, but the guys are sacrificing their bodies to make a play, block a shot. Whatever it takes to win, that’s what they’re doing right now. If you have a whole team that buys into that, it will be tough to beat us.”
Maryland’s Tanner Duncan and Isac Nielsen scored for a 2-0 lead. Johnstown’s Tate Pecknold trimmed the margin down to 2-1 late in the first 21 seconds later, which served as a pendulum for the second period.
Adam Ondris went five-hole to beat Maryland goaltender Ryan Denes to knot the game at 2-all with 9:57 into the second. Sam Blanton fed the puck to Ondris for his ninth marker of the season.
Maryland (12-8-0) captain Tyler Stern’s wrister beat Ferris inside the near post to go ahead 3-2. Just 20 seconds later, Potter scored on an assist from Dylan Shane. A little puck luck gave the Tomahawks a jolt.
“It went off the wall and hit the goalie’s leg and ended up in the back of the net,” Potter said.
After a blocked shot, Tomahawks defenseman Lukas Klemm found the back of the net for his fifth of the season with the assist to Pecknold.
Johnstown led for the first time at 4-3. Benji Motew replaced Denes after the fourth goal.
After a six-minute delay in which a piece of plexiglass fell onto the ice, Ryan Flaherty’s shot went into the left side of the net off a feed from Ondris on the power play to set the final 11:49 into the third.
The teams meet again at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Jake Oswalt is a copy editor for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @TheWizOfOz11.
