Despite battling hard for the comeback after being down 5-0, the Jr. Sabres fell just short & lost by a score of 5-4 to the Whitby Fury on Wednesday night at the First Niagara Rink at HARBORCENTER.
Getting into an early 2-0 hole wasn’t exactly the start the Buffalo Jr. Sabres were looking for, just a few days after they fell to the Markham Royals and broke a 10-game winning streak.
Just 28 seconds into Wednesday night’s game, Whitby’s Nikolas Coric put the Fury up 1-0.
Less than two minutes later, Steven Elliott quickly put the Fury up 2-0 on their first two shots of the night.
Exactly four minutes later, Jeffrey Gauld put Whitby up 3-0.
The Jr. Sabres were able to settle things down for a little while, until Elliott scored his second of the night to put the Fury up 4-0.
Buffalo headed to the locker room in an early hole, and struggled crawling out of it.
Zack Fisher scored one early in the second to make it 5-0.
The Jr. Sabres battled back, with Zach Evancho scored his team-leading 23rd goal of the season to break Mannella’s shutout campaign.
A skirmish broke out immediately after the goal, which led to Whitby’s Ian McKinnon getting a five-minute major penalty for spearing.
Just 2:25 later – in the midst of the five-minute power-play and on a delayed penalty call, Aaron Reinig scored his second of the season to make it 5-2.
Exactly two minutes into the third period, Evancho tallied his second of the night to lessen the gap to just two goals.
Whitby held on tight to their lead, with David Baskerville potting one late for the Jr. Sabres, with just 24 seconds left on the clock.
It was too little, too late, and that was all the Jr. Sabres were able to muster as they fell for the second straight game and broke a six-game home winning streak dating back to November 11.
Next up for the Jr. Sabres is a two-game road trip this weekend, as they travel to Georgetown and North York. Buffalo will return home to host the Burlington Cougars on January 13 at 7:35 p.m.
