By the beard of Brent Burns! That game was epic! We just saw the biggest comeback in the brief history of this league, leaving one team reeling from a mind-boggling collapse that may haunt them for years to come if they fail to win the title over the next two games.
In a year dominated by goaltending and defense -- when the average number of goals scored per team per game was 2.895 versus 3.27 last season -- it was a bit of a shocker to see nine goals tonight. Shots came early and often against Riley Hern, but he turned aside everything the Comets threw at him in the first period. It appeared as if we would have a scoreless first until Moose Goheen of the Thistles took a pass from Harry Westwick and beat Percy LeSueur in the final minute of the frame.
The stunned Comets were caught flat-footed again in the opening minute of the second period when Hod Stuart set up Tommy Phillips to give the Thistles a 2-0 lead. With the game in danger of slipping away from them, the Comets got a lift from Billy Gilmour in his first game back from injury. Scarcely a minute after Phillips's goal, the feisty Gilly converted a Mike Grant pass into an easy score. The relief of the home-team fans was short-lived, as Phillips struck again midway through the period to restore the two-goal lead for his squad. The Comets, meanwhile, struggled to get high-quality chances and played a lot of futile dump-and-chase. Rookie star Tommy Smith scored after a turnover to put the Comets into an even deeper hole.
Down 4-1 to start the third, the Comets got to work. Gifted an early power play by the penalty-prone Thistles, Mike Grant scored to pull the Comets to within two. Moments later, the Thistles took yet another penalty. Frank McGee had a beautiful chance, but Hern stonewalled him. The score remained 4-2 at the midpoint of the period, whereupon defenseman Graham Drinkwater found a wide-open Harry Trihey to cut the deficit to one. After their captain's goal, the Comets put relentless pressure on the Thistles. The minutes continued to tick away, however, and it looked as though the rally would come up short. In the final forty seconds (in Strat-O-Matic terms, the last Action Card for the period), Blair Russell found his favorite target, Frank McGee, who buried the puck past a shellshocked Riley Hern.
The Comets had done it. They'd tied the game with three goals in the third period to force overtime for only the second time in league history. The Comets' house was rocking and, if momentum is a thing (which I don't think it is), the home team had all of it. At the very first faceoff of OT, McGee and Dan Bain got tied up in the circle. Russell scooped up the puck and shunted it to steady defenseman Jack Marshall, whose laser-beam shot eluded Hern to end the game.
So it was a 5-4 win for the Comets, giving them the lead in this best-of-three series. If we're looking for frontrunners for the Playoff MVP award, Blair Russell (Comets) had three assists, Tommy Phillips (Thistles) had two goals, and Mike Grant (Comets) had one goal and one assist. I think we can safely exclude the goaltenders from the MVP discussion.
Next up, in Game 2, the Thistles need a win at home or the Comets will be league champions!
In a year dominated by goaltending and defense -- when the average number of goals scored per team per game was 2.895 versus 3.27 last season -- it was a bit of a shocker to see nine goals tonight. Shots came early and often against Riley Hern, but he turned aside everything the Comets threw at him in the first period. It appeared as if we would have a scoreless first until Moose Goheen of the Thistles took a pass from Harry Westwick and beat Percy LeSueur in the final minute of the frame.
The stunned Comets were caught flat-footed again in the opening minute of the second period when Hod Stuart set up Tommy Phillips to give the Thistles a 2-0 lead. With the game in danger of slipping away from them, the Comets got a lift from Billy Gilmour in his first game back from injury. Scarcely a minute after Phillips's goal, the feisty Gilly converted a Mike Grant pass into an easy score. The relief of the home-team fans was short-lived, as Phillips struck again midway through the period to restore the two-goal lead for his squad. The Comets, meanwhile, struggled to get high-quality chances and played a lot of futile dump-and-chase. Rookie star Tommy Smith scored after a turnover to put the Comets into an even deeper hole.
Down 4-1 to start the third, the Comets got to work. Gifted an early power play by the penalty-prone Thistles, Mike Grant scored to pull the Comets to within two. Moments later, the Thistles took yet another penalty. Frank McGee had a beautiful chance, but Hern stonewalled him. The score remained 4-2 at the midpoint of the period, whereupon defenseman Graham Drinkwater found a wide-open Harry Trihey to cut the deficit to one. After their captain's goal, the Comets put relentless pressure on the Thistles. The minutes continued to tick away, however, and it looked as though the rally would come up short. In the final forty seconds (in Strat-O-Matic terms, the last Action Card for the period), Blair Russell found his favorite target, Frank McGee, who buried the puck past a shellshocked Riley Hern.
The Comets had done it. They'd tied the game with three goals in the third period to force overtime for only the second time in league history. The Comets' house was rocking and, if momentum is a thing (which I don't think it is), the home team had all of it. At the very first faceoff of OT, McGee and Dan Bain got tied up in the circle. Russell scooped up the puck and shunted it to steady defenseman Jack Marshall, whose laser-beam shot eluded Hern to end the game.
So it was a 5-4 win for the Comets, giving them the lead in this best-of-three series. If we're looking for frontrunners for the Playoff MVP award, Blair Russell (Comets) had three assists, Tommy Phillips (Thistles) had two goals, and Mike Grant (Comets) had one goal and one assist. I think we can safely exclude the goaltenders from the MVP discussion.
Next up, in Game 2, the Thistles need a win at home or the Comets will be league champions!
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