Zach O’Brien continues to drive the bus for the Newfoundland Growlers as the ECHL expansion team winds through its first Kelly Cup playoffs.
O’Brien, the 26-year-old sixth-year pro from St. John’s, scored for the fourth straight game, and added two assists, as the Growlers slipped past the Manchester Monarchs 4-3 Wednesday night in New Hampshire.
The Growlers are now within a game of dusting off the Monarchs and advancing to the third round of the playoffs and the Eastern Conference final.
Newfoundland, which holds a 3-1 series lead on the Monarchs, can finish things off with a victory 8:30 Friday night (NL time) in New Hampshire.
O’Brien, who finished seventh in league scoring this season (28-40-68), tallied his team-leading sixth goal and assisted on goals by Brady Ferguson and Giorgio Estephan to up his scoring totals to 14 points in the playoffs, and a tie for third overall in the league with Tulsa’s Adam Pleskach.
It was the Monarchs’ Cory Ward who opened scoring with the only goal of the first period. However, Josh Kestner got things for the Growlers 6:50 in to the second, followed by power play goals from O’Brien and Ferguson.
Pierre-Luc Mercier cut Newfoundland’s lead to one goal with his first of two on the night with less than three minutes remaining in the second period.
Estephan restored the Growlers’ two-goal lead with his third at 5:25 of the final frame with Newfoundland’s third power play goal.
Mercier scored again just over a minute later, but it was all Michael Garteig from that point on as the Newfoundland netminder held off the Manchester attack which outshot their guests 21-5.
Garteig finished the night with 44 saves.
In the other Eastern Conference semifinal, the Florida Everblades carry a 2-1 series lead in Thursday night’s game against the Orlando Solar Bears.
In the Western Conference, the Tulsa Oilers lead the Idaho Steelheads 3-1 in their best-of-seven series, while the Toledo Walleye have a 2-1 series lead on the Cincinnati Cyclones.
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