Back together again, the Newfoundland Growlers’ No. 1 line has started where it left off.
Brady Ferguson, Marcus Power and Zach O’Brien each had two points as the Growlers downed the Brampton Beast 5-2 Friday night at the Cassie Campbell Centre Centre in Brampton, Ont., in the ECHL pre-season opener for both teams.
The O’Brien-Ferguson-Power combination had finished 1-2-3 in scoring for the ECHL champion Growlers and will be counted on again as Newfoundland begins defence of its Kelly Cup title beginning Friday at Mile One Centre, where they begin a new season with a game against the Reading Royals. The trio gave indication it’s up for the task Friday as Power and Ferguson each had a goal and an assist while O’Brien added a couple of helpers.
Fellow returning players Todd Skirving and Scott Pooley, the latter into an empty net, and newcomer Riley Woods had the Growlers’ other goals Saturday.
Rookie goalie Maxim Zhukov made six saves going the distance in goal for Newfoundland.
Another Growlers rookie, defenceman Tommy Panico, finished the night with plus-four rating.
Newfoundland was scoreless in two power-play opportunities.
Nathan Todd and Jackson Leef replied for Brampton, which went one-for-five with the man advantage.
Joey Daccord faced 26 shots in the Brampton net.
The two teams face each other again today (6:30 p.m. NT) in Brampton. Chris Ballard’s play-by-play of the game is available online at http://mixlr.com/nlgrowlers/
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The Growlers pared their training-camp group to 27 bodies on Friday, releasing a half-dozen tryout players.
Cut were forwards Jimmy Soper, Josh Lafrance and Lucas Bombardier, defencemen Alex Carlson and Sean Kacerosky and goalie Nathan Perry.
Twitter: @telybrendam