Rookie Justin Brazeau scored two power-play goals, Scott Pooley extended his points streak to 10 games and goaltender Angus Redmond won in his first start with his new team as the Newfoundland Growlers doubled the Atlanta Gladiators 6-3 Saturday night for a sweep of their two-game series at Mile One Centre.
The result improves the Growlers' record to 7-5 and moved them to within one point of the Reading Royals, who lead the ECHL’s North Division. It also gives defending ECHL champion Newfoundland, which had beaten Atlanta 5-3 Friday at Mile One, its first sweep of an opponent in three home series this fall, although they did defeat the Royals twice as part of a three-game season-opening series at Mile One in October.
The Growlers are now two games above .500 for the first time since Oct. 18, but unlike then, when a loss to the Brampton Beast the following night dropped their record back, they’ll get to enjoy their statistical status for a while longer; they don’t play again until Friday, when they take on the visiting Toledo Walleye in a rematch of the 2019 Kelly Cup final.
Against Atlanta on Saturday, Brazeau opened the scoring four-and-a-half minutes into the contest and added what turned out to be the game-willing tally as part of Newfoundland’s four-goal third period.
Pooley, who had scored twice in Friday’s victory, had a goal and an assist, as did Zach O’Brien, who had done the same on Friday.
Todd Skirving, with his first goal of the year, and Brady Ferguson had the home side’s other tallies.
Rookie forward Colt Conrad assisted on both of Brazeau’s goals, giving his 13 helpers on the season and tying him for the league lead in assists (as of Sunday), with former Growler JJ Piccinich, now with the Tulsa Oilers.
Redmond, who had been acquired on loan from the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks earlier this week, made 31 saves in what was not only his first start for the Growlers, but his first start of the season; he hadn’t seen any action as the third goalie for the San Diego Gulls, the Ducks’ AHL farm club.
Logan Nelson, Derek Nesbitt and Anthony Collins scored for Atlanta, which is affiliated with the NHL’s Boston Bruins.
Collins’ goal came as part of a late third-period flurry. With the Growlers’ leading 4-2, the Gladiators pulled netminder Maxime Ouelette for an extra-attacker only to have Pooley score his 10th goal of the season, which put him in a tie for the league lead. Then, less than a minute later, Ferguson scored with the teams playing five-on-five, only to have ECHL veteran Collins score his first as a Gladiator 42 seconds after that.
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Dog Bites
The Gladiators outshot the Growlers 34-33… Newfoundland went two-for-four with the man-advantage Saturday, giving the team 17 power-play goals, the most in the league heading into Sunday … Attendance Saturday was 4,047, just under the Growlers’ season average to date (4,114). Newfoundland sits almost midway in the ECHL attendance standings; the league average is 4,377 per game … After being sidelined with an injury suffered in training camp, veteran Growlers defenceman Alex Gudbranson played his games of the season on the weekend … On Saturday, for a second game in a row, the three stars were all from the Growlers: 1. Brazeau, 2. Skirving, 3. Redmond …
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