When the Buffalo Jr. Sabres and Orangeville Flyers hit the ice for Wednesday night’s affair, both sides were set for an intense divisional matchup.
A first period that saw the teams combine for 51 penalty minutes, including two 10-minute misconducts, certainly met that standard early.
In the end, the Jr. Sabres fell 4-3 in the second overtime period.
Through sixty minutes, Buffalo and Orangeville had a combined 59 penalty minutes.
WIth Wednesday night’s win, the Flyers defeated Buffalo for the first time this season. The Jr. Sabres won the first three meetings.
Orangeville opened the scoring 3:34 into the game with a goal by Zack Vukosa.
The Flyers took their first penalty of the evening 5:37 into the first, with Ethan Wiseman sitting for holding the stick.
With just nine seconds left on the resulting power play, the Jr. Sabres tied the game at one with a tally by Aaron Reinig. Tim Nicksic and Christopher Berger notched the assists.
That marked the beginning of the barrage of penalties we’d see throughout the night, including four minors handed out with under four minutes to go in the first and four additional penalties – including a major for head contact – passed out just 46 seconds later.
With that, and another penalty a short time later, the Jr. Sabres had a 5-on-3, and they took advantage.
Tim Nicksic put Buffalo up 2-1 on a goal assisted by Ryan Wheeler and Brenden Dunning.
With just three seconds to play, yet another scrum broke out, putting Wheeler and Wiseman in the box with 10-minute misconducts for abuse of officials. Brenden Dunning also served a high-sticking minor.
Teams returned to the ice for a much calmer second period, with only eight minutes of penalties handed out between the two.
Ryan Wheeler scored the lone goal in the second to up Buffalo’s lead to a pair of goals, assisted by Joshua Biasillo and Dylan Seitz.
The Jr. Sabres entered the third period with a two-goal lead, but that didn’t last long.
Just 33 seconds into the third, Ryan Barbosa closed the gap to one goal; less than three minutes later, Daniel DeRose tied the game on the power-play.
The teams took it to overtime – first four-on-four, then three-on-three. The Flyers eventually potted the winner on a wrister by Lucas Smilsky.
Garnering a point, the Jr. Sabres have now reached the 60-point mark and are tied for Georgetown for the division lead.
The Jr. Sabres now head out on a two-game road trip, facing St. Michaels and Milton this weekend. They’ll return home to host St. Michaels on January 27 at 7:35 p.m. at HARBORCENTER.
