Generals rout Tomahawks to begin two-game series
Dec. 31—While holding three of the top four scorers in the North American Hockey League on its roster, Northeast has the statistics to back up the reputation for its powerful offense.
NAHL points leader David Andreychuk and fellow forward Sixten Jennersjo each scored twice to lead an offensive barrage by Northeast, who used a four-goal first period to help coast to a 9-2 victory over Johnstown in front of 1,794 fans at 1st Summit Arena.
"It's obviously never easy being down by that much that early," Johnstown coach Mike Letizia said. "It just felt like every shot they took, found a way to go in, while I think we didn't have any shots until almost halfway through the first period. We passed up some shots and just weren't able to put any in the net to start."
Jake LaRusso netted the Generals' first goal just 1:25 into the game that started a string of four tallies that gave Northeast a 4-0 lead after the first period.
Nick Ramm, Jackson McCarthy and Andreychuk each scored for the Generals to build the early advantage. Tomahawks goalie Alec Rajalin-Scharp was pulled with 7:29 left in the period after allowing three goals on Northeast's first five shots.
It took Johnstown nearly eight minutes to record a shot on goal.
The first period also set the tone for the physicality of the contest, featuring 64 of the game's 96 penalty minutes. Both teams had two players receive 10-minute misconducts in the frame. This included Johnstown's Ryan Panico, who was later ejected during the third period after being handed his second misconduct.
"I think we needed to have a little more competitive spirit," Letizia said. "They finished a few more checks than we did.
"It's a tough game, and if you don't wanna play with a little edge, you're not going to do very well in this league."
Ryan Remick pushed Northeast's lead to five with an unassisted goal at 6:38 of the second period. Nick Ahern finally got Johnstown on the board, scoring from Ryan Vellucci and David Matousek at 11:07, to go into the third trailing 5-1.
Northeast added four additional tallies in the final period to pull away. Jennersjo scored twice for the Generals, while Andreychuk and Nick Recupero each found the back of the net.
Matousek scored his eighth goal of the season for Johns- town to set the final.
"It's pretty disappointing tonight," Letizia said. "Especially with it being on home ice in front of a pretty big crowd."
Generals goalie Toby Hopp earned his 10th win of the season after stopping 24 of 26 Tomahawks shots.
Johnstown's reserve goaltender Colin Purcell made 18 saves on 24 shots faced over the final two-and-a-half periods.
Northeast has now won three straight games and six of its last seven overall. The Generals (18-10-3, 39 points) jumped New Jersey (38 points) to move into second place in the East Division standings. Johnstown (12-15-2, 26 points) remains in fifth, six points behind Maine, which is idle this weekend.
The two teams will close the series at 6 p.m. Saturday in a New Year's Eve matchup.
The Tomahawks are are 8-1-1 all-time in New Year's Eve games since 2012, including defeating Northeast three of the last four years.
"It's gotta start with us having a little bit better effort," Letizia said. "We have to be willing to fight for pucks and fight for ice. There's a lot to fix, and it's on us as a team to fix it."
