SAULT STE. MARIE -- Lake Superior State senior defenseman Kyle Chatham scored at the 12:35 mark of the third period to break a 3-3 tie as the Lakers beat the Ferris State Bulldogs 5-3 Saturday night at Taffy Abel Arena.
It was a big win for the Lakers, who are still hoping for a WCHA playoff spot.
“I thought one of the differences in the night was the traffic in front of their net, we did a really good job both 5-on-5 and the power play to not let their goaltender see pucks,” said Laker head coach Damon Whitten.
The Lakers took advantage of the power play in the first period going 2-4 and ending the period ahead 3-0. It was actually Laker 6-3 sophomore defenseman Steven Ruggiero who received the first penalty, a boarding call at 6:49. However, it was the Bulldogs who had the greater indiscretions in the period and they paid for it. At 11:08, with 43 seconds left on the power play, Gage Torrel took a nice pass from Lukas Kaelbe and drilled a slap shot into the net from the right side.
Again with the one man advantage, the Lakers worked the puck in close to the goal, battering it away until Jake Hand got in the right position and shot it past Bulldog goalie Darren Smith at 16:43. He was assisted by Gage Torrel and Diego Cuglietta. And then to prove they could score at even up, Anthony Nellis drove one home at 17:13, assisted by Bryan Basilico and Alexandro Ambrosia.
Determined not to go down in flames the Bulldogs came out fast and furious in the second period. However, at the end of the period they had only one goal to show for it after Bulldog Trevor Recktenwald took a pass from Joe Rutkowski and flipped it past Laker goaltender Nick Kossoff. The time on their first goal was 13:33.
It would be in the third period, however, when the game started to tighten up, causing the noise level in Taffy Abel Arena went up a notch. At 3:38 into the period Bulldog Ryker Killins scored his first goal of the season, after taking a quick pass out in front of the Laker goal from Lucas Finner, closing the gap at 3-2. Then at 4:19 it got pretty congested in front of the goal for the 6-2 junior goaltender. When the smoke cleared the referees concluded that the Bulldog’s Jason Tackett forced in his first goal of the season to tie it up at 3-3.
Kyle Chatham, who is known more for his defensive prowess and overall good nature than goal scoring, came to the rescue at 12:35, scoring his first goal of the season.
“Kyle showed a great poise at the offensive blue line to change the angle,” said Whitten of the winning goal.
The fans were on the edge of their seats for the next few minutes as the Bulldogs worked it aggressively into the Laker zone. However, the Laker defenseman did what they needed to do, including getting the puck up to sophomore Brayden Gelsinger who fought through a couple of defenders to shoot it into an open net from just past the center line. At that point there was only 42 seconds left on the clock.
“The guys have done a real good job of sticking together and believing in each other and being positive and that was good to see,” said Whitten.
LSSU is now 6-16-4 overall, 4-11-3 WCHA. The Lakers will travel to Marquette this upcoming weekend for a two game set with the NMU Wildcats at the Berry Events Center.