Having gained two rounds’ worth of home-ice advantage for upcoming Kelly Cup playoffs, the Newfoundland Growlers got some idea of the difference that could make Saturday night.
Playing its final regular-season home game, and doing it before one of their largest crowds of the season, Newfoundland downed the Manchester Monarchs 5-2 at Mile One Centre in St. John’s.
The Growlers have to be hoping they’ll see something akin to the backing provided by Saturday’s 5,752 fans when they open their post-season April 12-13. But they should be absolutely sure of the upper hand they’ll have when playing at Mile One, where they were 24-10-2 in 36 games, the third-best home-ice record in the 27-team ECHL.
Who they’ll face in the opening round of the playoffs is still to be determined; it still could be any of the six teams below them in the North Division, including the Manchester Monarchs, whom they defeated twice over the weekend.
The Growlers’ two victories — 4-2 on Friday and 5-2 Saturday — were that much more impressive because they came against a team that badly needs points; the Monarchs are third in the division, but still haven’t clinched a playoff berth.
They’ve already secured the North Division title and second seed in the Eastern Conference behind the Florida Everblades, so there is not much left to be achieved standings-wise for the Growlers, except perhaps finishing third overall in the entire league, something they could do by winning one of their three remaining games, or having the Toledo Walleye and Tulsa Oilers, two Western Conference teams, both suffer a loss down the stretch.
Newfoundland finishes up with a three-on-three weekend in New England, playing the Monarchs, Worcester Railers and Maine Mariners
What might be most interesting for the Growlers could be the internal race to finish as the team’s top goal-scorer. Scott Pooley, who had three tallies on the weekend, including a couple on Sunday, and Brady Ferguson, who registered a goal in each win, lead the way with 29 each. Zach O’Brien has 27.
With 63 points, O’Brien would seem pretty safe for the team’s overall scoring title, but Ferguson, who has 57 points, is giving him a bit of a run. The Texan is on a seven-game points streak, with seven goals and seven assists over that stretch.
Dog Bites
After being sidelined for four games, O’Brien returned to action over the weekend, and was reunited with regular linemates Marcus Power and Ferguson. Power scored in each game as the line produced five of the team’s nine goals against Manchester, collecting an overall 11 points in the process. … Pooley had been returned to Newfoundland from the Toronto Marlies just before the games against Manchester, but two others who were reassigned from the Marlies at the same time also had impressive weekends. Forward Gabriel Gagne delivered four assists in his first two games with the Growlers and defenceman Sam Jardine was an overall plus-four against the Monarchs … The goaltending was solid for Newfoundland in both games, with Eamon McAdam stopping 27 shots Friday and Michael Garteig following up with 40 saves in what was a first-star performance in Saturday’s rematch … Saturday’s crowd pushed the average attendance for the Growlers at Mile One during their inaugural ECHL season to 3,784 …
Twitter: @telybrendan
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