Power-play? refers to an advantage one team has over the other because of skaters in the penalty box. What Orchard Lake St. Mary’s did to Clarkston on Saturday was almost a 33-minute power-play.
The no. 5 state ranked Eaglets 8-0 handling of the Wolves only involved two power-play goals for the victors, who seemed to out-number Clarkston on many occasions.
The game was spent mostly in the Clarkston zone and the Eaglets (9-8-4) held a 27-10 shot advantage.
Devon Carr stopped everything Clarkston (4-10-3) could muster for the shutout. The win was the first in the past four contests for the Eaglets, who lost a 2-1 decision to Warren De La Salle last week.
‘We certainly wanted to shake that thing and it was good for us to come out tonight and put some pucks in the net,? St. Mary’s coach Brian Klanow said.
The Eaglets began scoring early when Steve Tallman found Kasper Bryniczka in front of the net less than three minutes into the game.
Brandon Kozlowski assisted on the next two St. Mary’s goals by Ben Shields and a power-play goal by Dane Muller. The Eaglets converted on two of three chances with the extra skater.
Mac Watts had three points in the second period. He scored at 3:26 of the period and assisted on two others by Jon Falvo (power-play) and Bryniczka.
‘He’s (Watts) one of our captains and he leads our defensive core with Jon Salvo and he had a good game tonight,? Klanow said.
Klanow attributed his team’s success on the heels of a three-game skid to reorganizing the Eaglets? approach.
‘My team’s been struggling this year, putting the puck in the net,? he said.
‘Tonight we changed everything around. We changed our lines and our whole system and they executed it well and they started putting some pucks in the net finally.
‘We rolled all four lines and they all played well. They executed the game plan we set forth,? he added.
Defensively, St. Mary’s switched to a 2-3 zone, rather than a 2-1-2 they typically use.
Clarkston coach Bryan Krygier said the Wolves need to put the loss behind them and continue to work hard with their three final league games in the coming weeks.
‘It’s a humbling game and you have to swallow your pride and prepare for the next game,? Krygier said.
‘We can still end up in third. We can be .500 in the league and still end up third, so we need to get to 12 points. We need three more wins,? he added.
Clarkston travels to Waterford to take on Mott at Lakeland Ice Arena Thursday, starting at 7:20 p.m. The Wolves travel to the Michigan Hockey Showcase tournament this weekend at Kennedy Ice Arena in Trenton. Clarkston faces Utica Eisenhower on Friday and Northville on Saturday.