Through their first nine ECHL games, the Newfoundland Growlers have been like a flashing neon sign for a highway diner.
On, off. On, off. On, off.
The Growlers (5-4-0) head into Game No. 10 tonight in Glens Falls, N.Y., having won and lost alternate games. In other words, they’ve never won — or for that matter, lost — two games in a row.
If Newfoundland is to break that pattern tonight against the Adirondack Thunder, it would help if the power play showed some … well, power.
The Growlers have just three goals in 37 man-advantage opportunities this season, giving them a success rate of 8.1 per cent, third worst in the 27-team ECHL. Through five games of what will be an eight-game road trip, the team is 2-for-25 on the power play.
Newfoundland’s penalty kill has been successful 83.8 per cent of the time, but while that is a decent showing, the Growlers still have given up three more power-play goals than they’ve scored.
While the team, as a whole, looks for some consistency on the road, it appears to have already found it in goaltender Michael Garteig, at least as of late/
With seven starts in the Growlers’ nine games, Garteig leads the league in minutes played (416), is second in saves (203) and is tied for the lead in wins (4). The 26-year-old (he turns 27 on Monday) sports a 2.45 goals-against average and .923 save percentage, but has been particularly solid on this inaugural road swing, allowing just six goals in four games.
In that stretch, Garteig has a 1.50 goals-against average and .947 save percentage.
He can expect a test tonight against the Thunder, who lead the ECHL North Division with a 6-2-0 record, which includes a split of a couple of games against the Growlers at Mile One Centre in St. John’s a couple of weeks ago.
Dog Bites
Injuries, roster shuffling and a suspension to defenceman James Melindy meant the Growlers iced a much different lineup in Sunday’s 3-1 win over the Brampton Beast that they did 16 days previous in their season-opener at Mile One against Florida. Of the 18 players dressed against Brampton, just 10 were penciled in for the opener. The change is particularly noticeable on the blueline. Of the six defenceman who played in the win over Brampton, four of them — Kyle Cumiskey, Take Olson, Anthony Cortese and Cody Smith — weren’t even with the Growlers when they left on this road trip on Oct. 18 … The Growlers are led in scoring by rookie forwards Giorgio Estephan and Brady Ferguson, each with eight points. Estephan’s six goals are second-most amongst all ECHL rookies, while Ferguson’s plus-eight rating is tied for second-best in the league … Adirondack is led by forward Jordan Henry (2-12-14), who entered the week tied for the league scoring lead … Game time tonight is 8:30 p.m. (NT), with Chris Ballard’s play-by-play available online through mixlr.com/nlgrowlers …
Twitter: @telybrendan
