Falcons’ rally falls short in loss to Neshannock
After a lopsided first period that saw Neshannock jump out to a two-goal lead, Connellsville peppered Neshannock with shots and was on the verge of tying the game, but the Lancers held on for a 3-2 victory on Monday in PIHL Division 2 play at Hess Ice Rink in New Castle.
The Falcons drop to 5-2-0-0 this season, and sit in second place in the Division 2 Gold standings with 15 points behind Knoch, who has 17, but two games in hand.
Connellsville travels to Morgantown on Thursday in a key division contest, as the Mohigans (3-2-1-1) trail the Falcons by one point. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:45 p.m. at Mylan Park Arena in Morgantown.
Neshannock, who is in first place in the Division 2 Blue standings with a record of 7-1-1-0 and 23 points after nine games, opened the scoring when Shane Johns and Jacob Gruber set-up Butch Burgess with 8:32 remaining in the first period and a 1-0 lead.
The Lancers doubled their advantage at 7:02 on Reece Feury’s unassisted even-strength tally. Burgess’ goal was also scored 5-on-5. Neshannock had a 12-8 edge in shots on goal in the first frame, as the home team built up a 2-0 lead.
Connellsville took advantage of its second power-play opportunity in the second period when Connor Basinger scored at 14:49 to cut the deficit to 2-1. Matty Smith assisted on the tally, which was Basinger’s fourth of the season.
Basinger, Sam Denny, Logan Hause and Nolan Wojnar share the Falcons’ team lead in goals this season with four. Basinger and Wojnar are the co-leaders on the team in points with seven.
J Lohr restored the Lancers’ two-goal lead with an unassisted goal with 9:03 remaining in the third period.
Basinger and Denny set-up Santo Crucio for his first goal of the season at 2:54 of the third to pull Connellsville within one, but Neshannock goalie Tripp Johns stopped 25-of-27 shots on goal, as the home team hung on.
The Falcons’ Nick Daniels-Nimick made 14 saves.
Connellsville was 1 for 2 on with the man advantage, while the Lancers were 0 for 3.