News release
6 March 2011
Greenville, S.C. - The Elmira Jackals (27-24-6-1) scored two short-handed goals on the same penalty late in the third period on Sunday evening at the BI-LO Center to earn an incredible 6-5 victory over the Greenville Road Warriors (37-21-2-1). Yannick Tifu's hat-trick goal with the Jackals down a man at 17:20 of the final frame put Elmira in front for the first time in the contest and proved to be the game winner.
The Jackals faced a three-goal deficit into the second period after Marc-Olivier Vallerand (10:28), Jimmy Kilpatrick (12:44), and Wes Cunningham (14:03) scored for the Road Warriors in the opening stanza to make it 3-0.
Tifu's wrist shot on the power play from the left circle flew past Greenville netminder Nic Riopel at 14:33 of the second to start Elmira's first comeback and put the Jackals on the scoreboard, 3-1.
Justin Donati, who had a goal and four assists on the game to finish the week with a league-leading 83 points, started a scoring play for the Jackals just before time expired in the second period. Donati stickhandled through the right-wing circle and put a shot on Riopel who deflected a rebound to Dale Mahovsky. Mahovsky knocked the puck in from the top of the crease to bring Elmira to within a goal, 3-2, with 1.2 seconds to go.
The Jackals had not overcome a three-goal deficit all season entering Sunday's contest. That changed when Tifu wristed a puck from the right circle past the stick of Riopel to tie the game, 3-3, at 1:46 of the final frame.
Matt Schepke drove a puck past the stick of Elmira netminder Garrett Zemlak from the left circle to put Greenville back on top a minute and a half later, 4-3.
Just 12 seconds after Schepke's tally, Michael Dubuc one-timed a feed from A.J. Perry past Riopel to tie the game, 4-4, at 3:50.
Shane Harper's power-play goal from the left circle, Greenville's third of the game, put the Road Warriors in front once again at 7:35 of the third.
A scramble in front of Elmira's net inside the final five minutes of the third gave the Road Warriors their fifth power play, giving the club a chance to put the Jackals away. The Jackals, however, would score their league-leading 13th and 14th short-handed goals of the season to pull off the remarkable comeback victory.
Entering the Greenville zone on a four-on-three rush, Tifu's pass deflected to Donati in the left circle, giving the second-year pro a good look at the net. Donati drove the puck top shelf past Riopel to tie the game, 5-5, at 15:50. The assist was the 400th point of Tifu's professional career, one day after he skated in his 400th game as a pro.
Cunningham bobbled a puck at Elmira's blue line on the power play moments later, giving Donati an opportunity to carry the puck on a two-on-one with Tifu into the Road Warriors' end. Tifu took Donati's pass in the left circle and snuck the puck under the cross bar to cap the Jackals' furious rally, 6-5, at the 17:20 mark of the final period.
Elmira shut down Greenville's offense in the final two minutes and 40 seconds of the game to secure the victory.
Zemlak earned his first win since Feb. 4 to improve to 2-2-0-1 with the Jackals by making 26 saves on 31 shots. Riopel's record dropped to 19-12-0-1 with 22 saves on 28 shots.
Elmira's victory snapped Greenville's winning streak at four games, one day after the Jackals' four-game winning streak was stopped by the Road Warriors.
The Jackals head to Charleston, S.C. to take on the South Carolina Stingrays on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.
Notes: The Jackals now have four wins when trailing after two periods, with two of those victories coming in the last five games. Greenville was 25-1-1-0 when leading after two periods. The victory was Elmira's first of the season when allowing more than four goals. The Jackals are 3-0 in one-goal games under new coach Robbie Nichols. Elmira has been scored on first in all six games under Nichols and has won five of those games. The Jackals have scored two short-handed goals on one penalty twice this season, with Donati and Tifu scoring short-handed goals on the same penalty in the third period against Reading on Jan. 30. R.J. Anderson was +5, tying a 2010-2011 ECHL single-game high and was the third +5 game of his career. Donati extended his point streak to six games (7g-11a).Tifu lengthened his point streak to seven games (8g-7a).