Danbury stings Motor city, 4-3, in overtime

 For the second night in a row, the Motor City Rockers suffered an overtime loss to the Danbury Hat Tricks. 

Midway through the overtime period, Dmitry Kuznetsov received the puck on a clear out from goaltender Brian Wilson. The Forward from Tyumen, Russia carried the puck into the offensive zone and entered the far side circle. As he did, Kuznetsov fired a shot that rocketed past Trevor Babin for a 4-3 win securing four points for the leaders in the Empire Division. 

Getting into the overtime period is a story in itself, however. 

Motor City (6-3-3) broke a 2-2 tie midway through the third period when Dante Suffredini found Declan Conway on a stretch pass through the neutral zone. Conway walked the puck to the point and fired a high wrist shot that snuck under the crossbar, stick side for a 3-2 lead with 9:31 left in the third period.

Danbury (9-0-1) received a little bit of puck luck, however, when Connor Lind offered a cross ice pass that bounced off the skate of Derek Makimma and ricocheted into the net for a 3-3 tie with 1:48 to play. 

Motor City dominated the pace of play in the third period despite the own goal. The Rockers out shot Danbury 19-6 in the period and was able to tie the game up, 2-2, on a goal scored by Scott Coash, who earned his second goal of the weekend and sixth of the season since joining the Rockers in the middle of October. 

Danbury captured an early 2-1 lead in the period when Brendan Sheehan scored midway through the third for his fourth of the season. 

The second period had two firsts for both teams after the first period resulted in no goals, even though Suffredini had a penalty shot that rang off the post in the opening stanza.

Danbury opened the scoring on Mike Marchesan’s first goal of the season 2:09 into the 2nd period. Motor City’s Ian White, coming off a four point weekend in Binghamton, earned his first goal as a Rocker when he offered a blast from the point for a 1-1 tie with 8:00 to play in the 2nd period.

Motor City has a game on Wednesday night against the defending Commissioner Cup champions Watertown at 7:30pm at Big Boy Arena. The two split their first series of the season in Watertown in October.