Close, but Crustaceans Prevail (2/14)

Danville, IL - After a competitive weekend in Danbury, the Dashers returned home for the first of 3 with the Athens Rock Lobsters. Despite it being Valentine’s Day, there was no love lost between these 2 teams in their 3rd meeting. Athens' pair of goals in the final 7 minutes would be just enough to outlast the Dashers 4-2 on Friday night.

A difficult stretch of 3 games awaited the Dashers as they returned from Connecticut to host Athens for their first 3 game set of the season. Athens came to play early in period 1. You could tell they were a seasoned team with great chemistry, moving the puck from one to another as if they had a magnet on their stick blades. At the 6:44 mark, Malik Johnson banged home a beautiful 3-touch passing play through the 5-hole of Wahlgren to make it 1-0. However, the Dashers didn’t seem to be fazed by such a high caliber offense. Less than 4 minutes later, rookie defenseman Zack Slinger, in his professional debut, sent a shot on goal that was pounded into the net on the rebound by Blake Siewertsen to tie the game. But the Dashers weren’t done just yet. 4 minutes later, Bo Zinchenko hit a very familiar stop and go move before snapping the biscuit home to give the Dashers a 2-1 advantage. But the fun would be short lived, as just over 2 minutes later a Colatarci shot off the faceoff was tipped home by Brandon Reller to tie the game at 2. The shots were 17-11 Athens as both teams hit the dressing room. 

Period 2 was much different from the first 20 for both sides. Physicality picked up, and each goaltender continued to make save after save as the teams traded chances. The only big moment in the frame was when Quinn O’Reilly tracked down an aerial pass and had himself in all alone. FInishing the play, he proceeded to score on Rosenzweig, but there was a whistle for offsides that went unnoticed. As everybody knows, taking a shot after a whistle warrants a response, so after the play, Robertson and Shinkaruk jumped O’Reilly in the corner, leading to a litter of penalties. The Dashers had the only 2 man advantages in the frame, and couldn’t cash in on either. The shots were 11-9 Dashers in period 2, as the score stayed tied to set the stage for period 3.

Coming out of the locker room, it was 2 much different looking teams for period 3. Athens came out dominating the offensive zone, while the Dashers struggled to mount much pressure of their own. Around the midway point Athens took a penalty, but other than some decent puck movement the Dashers couldn’t find any shooting lanes. The deadlock broke with just under 7 minutes to play, with Kayson gallant tipping home a Greco shot from the point for his 23rd of the season to give Athens a 3-2 lead. But, the door remained open when Matthew Garcia took a penalty with just over 5 minutes in regulation. Similar to the previous power play, the Dashers just couldn’t get any shots away at Rosenzweig. The dagger was planted when Garrett Milan darted down the ice in an odd-man rush and beat Wahlgren on the far side to make it 4-2. The score would hold with Athens outshooting the Dashers 21-6 in period 3, and 47-28 in the game.

The two teams will square off once again tomorrow night at 7:05 inside the David S. Palmer Arena, with the Dashers wearing specialty autism awareness jerseys.