Jan 24, 2019 | dosmond | 520 views
01-23-2019 Leafs Come Up Lucky in Win Over Express
The Carmeuse Lime Midget LL team deserved a much better result in their road game at Langton last night. The team came out of the gate strong and maintained steady pressure through out all three periods but ran into problems putting the puck past the Leafs netminder. The end result was a 3-1 loss for the visitors.
It only took the visitors 0:27 into the game to get on the board. Defenceman Avery Shrigley broke in to the Langton zone down the left hand side. Shrigley then cut across the left faceoff circle and fed a nice pass to forward Shaun Holt who was all alone at the side of the Leafs net. Holt took the pass and directed it into the open net for his first goal of the season.
The home side would tie the score up with 6:09 left in the first on a slap shot from the left boards that beat Express goalie Dawson Sharpe short side over the shoulder. The visitors kept the pressure up for the remainder of the period and narrowly missed on a couple of opportunities. The first good chance came off the stick of Tyson Condotta who just missed on breakaway when his backhand deke just slipped wide of the Leafs net. A few moments later Brydon Johnson and Evan Wade went to work in the Leafs zone with Johnson setting Wade up out front but the Langton goalie turned the chance aside.
Ingersoll continued the majority of the offensive pressure in the second period with a number of chances that did not find the back of the net. Condotta would do some heavy work below the Leafs goal line and set up Nolan Costa who fired a shot that just missed, Ingersoll would track the puck down and it would end up on Condotta's stick again. He would find Costa for a second scoring chance but the Leafs goalie came up with a big save to keep the game tied at 1-1.
Later in the period Condotta would set up Kieghan Osmond for an excellent one timer. But a Langton defender got enough of his stick on it to send the puck wide of the net. Later in the period Shrigley would set up Caleb Clifford but the puck would not find the back of the net.
Failing to capitalize in the second the Express caught a tough break with 8:19 left in the game, when the Leafs scored on a broken play in the Express end. The puck somehow squeeze through a number of players in front of the Express net and found a path through Sharpe's pads. Langton would get another goal four minutes later when a screened Sharpe could not see the shot that somehow found its way through a maze of players in front of the Express net again.
Ingersoll had an opportunity to get a goal back when Clifford was awarded a penalty shot after he was sent in on a clear breakaway that ended up with a Leafs defender causing enough of a distraction that the warranted the penalty shot call. Clifford tried to go short side but the Leaf goalie was there to make the save. Ingersoll would be given one more chance to cut into the lead late in the game on the powerplay but Langton managed to keep the puck out of the net and held on for the 3-1 victory.
This was by far the most offensive pressure the Express has generated in a game all year and should build off this heading into their next game.