Brad Gallant scored two goals in 10 seconds late in the third period leading the St. Thomas Tommies to a 6-3 victory over the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers on Friday.
The Tommies recorded their first win of the season at the Lady Beaverbrook Arena bringing their record to 2-6 this season.
Gallant jumped on the ice as an extra attacker on a delayed penalty call against the Panthers with eight minutes left in the third period.
He headed straight for the slot, received a beautiful pass from Felix- Antoine Poulin and beat Panthers Goalie Mavric Parks to tie the game 3-3.
“We were buzzing all game,” said Gallant. “We just finally got a break there at the end and it felt pretty good to put it in the back of the net and get our team going.”
Gallants line stayed on the ice and 10 seconds later he buried his second of the game, lifting the Tommies to a 4-3 lead they would never relinquish.
The Panthers tried to rally together, but Tommies goaltender Charles Lavigne made some big saves late in the game.
STU’s Robert Zandbeek finished off the Panthers, scoring an empty net goal with 1:22 left in the game.
Steve Sanza added another empty netter and his second goal of the game.
Johnathan Bonneau also scored on the power play for the Tommies, when the Panthers Jared Gomez took an elbowing penalty early in the first period.
Chad Locke, Mike MacIssac and Reggie Traccitto scored for the Panthers.
The Tommies took an uncharacteristic 11 penalties in the game, nine of them coming in the second period.
The penalties allowed the Panthers to claw their way back into the game and take the lead on a five-on-three late in the second period.
Traccitto beat Lavigne on a beautiful tic-tac-toe play set up by his line mates Matt Carter and Locke. Lavigne had no chance on the play and the Tommies were fuming after the second period.
“We’re not going to win a whole lot of hockey games when we’re taking that many penalties,” said Coach Troy Ryan.
“We had a very, very heated second intermission and the players stepped up and held each other a little accountable.”
St. Thomas lost 4-2 Saturday to the Moncton Aigles Bleus who sit second in the Atlantic University Sport men’s hockey conference.
The Tommies fall to 2-6 on the year, leaving them tied with Dalhousie for last place.
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