Two things we learned Friday night at Mile One Centre:
1.) Joseph Duszak doesn’t need to dress up as Batman to be a hero.
2.) The Newfoundland Growlers keep finding ways to win, and they keep on getting wilder.
The Growlers scored six times in the third period, including shorthanded goals 17 seconds apart, topped off by Duszak’s second game-winning thriller this week, as they defeated the Worcester Railers 7-5 in ECHL play at Mile One.
The game marked the second time in five days that Newfoundland had overcome a three-goal deficit in the final frame for a win. They had also done so in the opening game of the current homestand when Duszak completed a comeback with an OT winner in a 5-4 victory over the Reading Royals.
Friday’s result makes it four straight wins for the North Division-leading Growlers (16-8-0) and stretches the team's victory streak at Mile One to seven games.
The Growlers were supposed to have worn Batman-branded uniforms Friday as part of a league-organized DC Comics theme night, but the Dark Knight garb did not arrive in St. John's. The league tweeted out that the uniforms, which were expected to be delivered to the team early Friday morning, were not available because of “a logistics error on behalf of the specialty jersey provider.”
🚨GOAL🚨
— Newfoundland Growlers (@NLGrowlers) December 7, 2019
JOSEPH DUSZAK PUTS THE GROWLERS IN THE LEAD!
6-5 #Growlers
5:43 left in the 3rd#StandOnGuard pic.twitter.com/qHy2KjQCuv
But even without the superhero costumes, Aaron Luchuk, Giorgio Estephan, Duszak and the rest of the Growlers still proceeded to save the day, just when all looked lost.
Worcester led 3-0 late in the second period and 5-3 with eight minutes left in the game, but Luchuk, just back with Newfoundland from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, scored twice, at 12:15 and 14:00 of the third, to tie the score at 5-5.
Luchuk’s second tally was a shorthanded marker, but the Growlers’ penalty killers weren’t done. Just after the ensuing faceoff, and with Matt Bradley still serving a tripping minor, Duszak burst in alone on Railers’ netminder Evan Buttenhuis and snapped a shot by him for what turned out to be the game-winner at 14:17.
The Growlers’ other top-prospect rookie rearguard, Mac Hollowell, added an empty-netter to seal the deal.
Estephan, with two, and Brady Ferguson had the other goals for Newfoundland.
Jordan Samuels-Thomas scored twice for Worcester (6-13-1), which gets a shot at revenge when the teams meet again tonight at Mile One (7 p.m.).
Bo Brauer, Nic Pierog and Matt Schmalz also had markers for the visitors, who also scored two shorthanded tallies in the game.
That meant there were twice as many goals that came shorthanded as opposed to those delivered on the power play. Ferguson’s team-leading 13th goal of the season and Estephan’s first of the night both came with the man advantage.
For tonight’s game, which concludes a four-game Mile One stay, the Growlers will be wearing alternate jerseys, but not the Batman ones. They will be throwback duds to spotlight the American Hockey League St. John’s Maple Leafs, the province’s first professional hockey team.
The team does have those uniforms ready to go.
Twitter: @telybrendan
