Four-goal third period sparks Otters in 5-2 early win

ERIE – The Otters better watch out; the Tullio Arena crowd could get used to these third-period explosions and become very demanding.rrAfter Friday night’s five-goal outburst buried Niagara last week, here were the Otters sweeping aside the Saginaw Spirit 5-2 on the strength of a four-goal third period uprising on Wednesday in a special matinee edition Veterans Day game, one of two 11 a.m. starts in the Ontario Hockey League on Wednesday.rrIt was the first morning start in Otters history and their first three-game win streak this season as Mike Cazzola and Andrew Yogan both reached the 10-goal mark with a pair of goals, and the home team took advantage of two new members of the opposition to salt away the victory. Greg McKegg, with his sixth goal (and an assist) rounded out the scoring and Zack Torquato added a pair of third-period assists for the victors.rrErie got the jump on the visitors from the opening faceoff as Anthony Camara took a hooking penalty26 seconds into the game. The Otters had several decent chances in close, only to be rebuffed by Toronto native Edward Pasquale.rrThe Spirit goaltender could do nothing at 5:59 when Mitch Gaulton let a low shot go from the left point that Cazzola deflected through the goalie’s legs for the only score of the initial period. Tyler Hostetter had the second assist.rrPasquale held his team in the rest of the way, stoning McKegg who broke in all alone from the Saginaw blueline in the 12th minute, and then turning back Anthony Luciani at the doorstep on a two-on-one with Yogan.rrHow clear cut was Erie’s domination? Mitch Fillman’s backhand at 15:43 was Saginaw’s first shot of the game, and the Otters emerged with a 12-2 bulge in that telling statistic, the lowest number of shots allowed in one period this season by Erie. They would outshoot Saginaw 34-29 on the game.rrUnfortunately for the Otters, the second period bore little resemblance to the first as the Spirit outshot their hosts 16-10 and scored the only two goals. The Otters tempted fate twice against the league’s best power play (28.3%) by taking “inoffensive” penalties – delay of game for the goalie playing the puck outside the trapezoid in his end, and too many men – and even had the best scoring chance during the first penalty when team captain Torquato broke in alone only to be stymied by Pasquale.rrFive-on-five was another matter. Former Otter Jordan Skellett, who entered the contest in third place in OHL scoring with 34 points, netted his 10th goal of the season at 7:08 when he picked up the puck at the top of the right circle, walked in and let a slow slapshot go from the faceoff button that beat Jaroslav Janus cleanly.rrJust under four minutes later, 16-year-old Pittsburgh native Vincent Trocheck earned a rare cheer for a visitor’s goal at Tullio from a large family contingent when he corralled a rebound at the edge of the crease and beat Janus with a backhander. At the other end, Pasquale made saves in close on Shawn Szydlowski, David Broll and Torquato, again, in to maintain the Spirit’s one-goal margin after 40 minutes.rrSaginaw carried the play for the first quarter of the final period until Torquato got his stick on a puck in the slot to the right of the Spirit goaltender and dished off a slick backhand to Cazzola who had a wide open net and it was 2-2 at 5:13. rrEarlier this week, Saginaw acquired defenseman Ryan O’Connor and forward Michael Sgarbossa in the deal that saw Barrie send defensemen T.J. Brodie and Nick Crawford to the Colts along with a third-round pick in the 2010 OHL Priority Selection.rrSgarbossa gave up the winning goal on this day when he tried a futile backhand clearing shot deep in his own end; Yogan intercepted the puck at the slot and his shot beat Pasquale at 11:12 for an unassisted goal. Ninety-four seconds later, Cazzola broke into the Saginaw zone and slipped the puck to McKegg, who cleanly beat O’Connor and walked in alone on Pasquale and it was 4-2 Erie at 12:46.rrMcKegg felt his team owed the fans something in the final 20 minutes: “We played a sloppy second period, but came out with some goals in the third because we started to skate hard again and didn’t give them a chance to get going.”rrO’Connor had a part in Erie’s fifth goal, too. The Saginaw defenseman was caught pressing in deep in the Erie zone when he let go a high slapshot at the Otters net that hit the backboards and rebounded to Luciani on the right wing. The Otter forward took two steps and hit Yogan at center ice with a beautiful pass and the Floridian had a clean breakaway from the red line, eventually slipping a backhand through Pasquale’s legs for the final goal of the contest at 15:25.rrIt was Erie’s second victory this season over the Spirit (13-5-2-0). In their previous meeting at Saginaw, Sept. 26, the Otters (8-9-2-1) prevailed 6-4 with McKegg scoring the winning goal and Shane Owen turning in the winning goaltending performance with 37 saves.rrAttention to detail and smart hockey leads to winning streaks, Coach Robbie Ftorek contends. “The guys are doing a lot better job in the offensive zone by finding time and space.”rrNext up at Tullio are the visiting Oshawa Generals on Friday; game time at 7:00 p.m.