Trenton Devils Beat Elmira Jackals 3-2 - ECHL

Trenton, NJ - Elmira was late to the party and did not bring enough to the table at the Sun National Bank Center as the Devils defeated the Jackals 3-2. The game was delayed 30 minutes because the Elmira team bus was stuck in traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Trevor Kell earned first star honors with the eventual game-winning goal along with two assists in his second game back from a five-game stint with Lowell. Dave Caruso made a season high 43 saves for his third win of the year.

The Devils struck first on a power play goal by Andy Thomas ten minutes into the first period. Trevor Kell passed the puck out to Justin Pender quarterbacking the power play at the center point position. Pender’s hard pass toward Thomas at the right point went to the side wall and the ricochet came right back to Thomas who ripped a the one-timer over the glove of Michael-Lee Teslak for a 1-0 Devils lead.

A buzzer-beater from Brett Wilson gave the Devils a two goal lead with less than a second left in the first period. Trevor Kell chased a Mike Harder dump-in behind the net, beating the Jackals defender to the puck. Kell quickly collected and passed the puck to Wilson who cut to the front of the net from the left wing side. With a defender on his back, Wilson took the puck on his backhand and shoveled a short side shot past the blocker of Michael-Lee Teslak.

The contentious mood typical of the rivalry was not evident Saturday, with only 18 total penalty minutes, compared to 113 in the meeting on Halloween. The only scuffle of the night occurred just after the Wilson score just after the first period horn. The small scrap led to coincidental minors to Olivier Proulx and Dave Leaderer for unsportsmanlike conduct, leaving four players on each side to start the second period.

Utilizing the open ice early in the second period, Trevor Kell took a pass from Tony Zancanaro in the neutral zone, just left of center, for an odd man rush. The Devils’ captain skated to the top of the left-wing circle, opened up and ripped a slap shot past Teslak for a 3-0 lead and Kell's third point of the night and first Trenton goal since November 6.

Following Kell’s goal 50 seconds into the period, Gord Burnett was assessed a roughing penalty at 2:18 leading to Elmira's first goal. The Jackals stopped a short-handed rush by the Devils, transitioned the other way and worked the puck to the front of the net for a shot by Justin Donati. Yannick Tifu slammed in Donati's rebound over the sprawling Dave Caruso 1:01 into the man-advantage, cutting Trenton's lead to 3-1.

The Jackals would have three more power play opportunities in the period to the Devils' one, but neither team could convert. Elmira had a 90-second four-on-three advantage just over halfway through the period but strong Devils defense and timely saves from Caruso kept the Devils' lead at two.

The Jackals made a game of it at 18:04 of the third, slamming home another rebound to reduce the deficit to one. Just after Caruso tied his season high in saves, Tifu again banged home a rebound, mirroring his earlier goal, following shots from Proulx and Jean-Francois David. The Trenton defense clamped down in the final two minutes, though, securing a 3-2 win.
 

Now two points shy of second place, the Devils (8-8-1-2, 19pts) againt take on the Jackals (9-6-2-1, 21pts) Sunday afternoon in Elmira with a 4:05 p.m. puck drop at First Arena.

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