In what appeared as if it would be a relatively easy victory for the Elmira Jackals over the Johnstown Chiefs after scoring the first four goals of the game on Friday night turned out to be a nail-biter, as the Jackals had to fight off the Chiefs to win 7-4 in front of 3,839 fans at First Arena, the Jackals second sell out in its first two home games. With the win, the Jackals improved to 3-0-0-0 to improve its lead to three points over the second place Reading Royals in the American East Division.

The big story of the night was the Jackals power play, which converted five times in seven opportunities against a Johnstown penalty kill that had not given up a power play goal through its first two games. The first five Jackals goals came on the power play, which improved to 7/16 (43.8%) over the first three games. It was the first time Elmira scored five times in a game on the power play since joining the ECHL in 2007-2008.

Justin Donati started the scoring at 8:51 of the first period when he knocked home a loose puck in front off of a feed from his brother, Tyler Donati, blocker side past Johnstown rookie goaltender Shane Connelly for the 1-0 lead.

After Brandon Svendsen made it 2-0 with his second goal of the season, Justin Donati one-timed a shot past Connelly from the left circle for the 3-0 lead. It was his third goal of the season, tying him for the team lead with Chanse Fitzpatrick.

The Jackals appeared to have narrowly missed a chance for their fourth power play goal when Chris Korchinski knocked in a loose puck in front, prompting the red light to go on, but referee Joe Sullivan initially waved it off. After a minute of deliberation, Sullivan gave the Jackals the goal, and they went up 4-0, the first time they had scored four power play goals since March 14, 2008 against Reading.

Johnstown appeared to have no momentum at that point, but after goals from Dan Collins and Mike Bartlett, who redirected a blue line bid from Greg Gallagher past Jackals goaltender Michael-Lee Teslak in the second period, the Chiefs trailed by two entering the third period. A goal by Ryan Del Monte brought the Chiefs to within one, but a Tyler Hirsch scoring opportunity was negated by a Matt Robinson interference minor late in the third period.

That gave the Jackals another power play opportunity, which they converted when Matt Lowry beat Connelly blocker side after an initial shot by Brennan Turner was stopped by the Chiefs' netminder.

With Connelly pulled, Ryan Menei made it a one goal game with 30.8 seconds remaining in the game. The Jackals however scored two empty net goals, the first off the stick of Olivier Proulx at 19:35, who banked a shot off the glass in his own zone and into the empty net for the 6-4 lead, and the second from Tyler Donati, who scored at 19:59, just before the final horn.

Tyler Donati now has nine points on the season, overtaking Alaska's John Lammers for first in the ECHL in scoring, and broke a multi-way tie among ECHL assists leaders to lead the league with eight. Justin Donati overtook Lammers as well, and is second in the ECHL in scoring with eight points (3-5).

Teslak made 19 saves on 23 Johnstown shots and improved to 3-0-0-0 on the season. Connelly made 23 saves on 28 Jackals shots, as he lost in his first professional start to fall to 0-1-0-0.

The Elmira Jackals will play Johnstown on the road tomorrow night at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena, with the puck dropping at 7:05 PM.

The Elmira Jackals: Ten Years in the Twin Tiers

LAMB OF GOD with GWAR

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Showtime: 7:00 PM

WILLIE NELSON

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Showtime: 7:30 PM

JACKALS HOCKEY

Jackals vs. Cincinnati

Friday, October 30, 2009

Game time: 7:35 PM

Jackals vs. Trenton

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Game time: 7:35 PM