Motor City outlasts Delaware 5-3, sweeps season series

Motor City made sure that it swept the season series against the Delaware Thunder, but it wasn’t easy in the final game of the series. 

The Rockers carried the pace of play all game long, but edged out a 5-3 win over the Thunder in a tightly contested game. Motor City (11-3-3) got on the board first with 13:14 into the opening stanza.

Cade Lambdin moved the puck out of the defensive zone and into center ice. Dylan Johnson chipped the puck ahead to a charging Declan Conway into the offensive zone. While on the breakaway, Conway fired the puck from the far side circle past Trevor Martin for a 1-0 lead.

The goal from Conway was his ninth of the season, and it extends his point streak to six games. 

Late in the first period the Thunder (1-13-1) got on the board despite not getting many scoring chances the entire period. 

After a face-off, Austin Weber created a two-on-one with Houston Wilson in the offensive zone. As Weber crashed the far side, he slid the puck to Wilson who completed the one-timer that tied the score at 1-1 with 1:08 left in the first period. 

The goal was Wilson’s fifth of the season, and second against Motor City this season. There wasn’t any scoring in the second period, despite peppering the net with 16 shots. Martin played strong in between the pipes and got help from his defensemen JC Mortiz and Justin Movalli who helped keep the shots from the outside and traffic cleared in front of the net for Martin to make key stops. 

Motor City out shot Delaware 57 to 15. 

Despite being out shot and down, the Thunder found a way to score off its limited chances in the third. The Thunder received two goals from Denis Gafarov; one that gave Delaware a 2-1 lead, and the other that tied the score at 3-3. 

Motor City was able to quickly answer Gafarov’s first goal to make it 2-2 a minute after it happened on a rebound goal from Derek Makimaa as he followed up a shot from Roman Gaudet. The goal was his sixth of the season and his second against Delaware. 

An unlikely scorer helped Motor City take a lead, 3-2, when Elias Thompson deflected a shot from Makimaa in front of the net for his first of the season. The Rockers were able to get the game winning goal on the power play with 7:32 remaining in the third period when Danny Vanderwiel fed the puck to the slot and on the waiting stick of Brad Reitter who lifted it for a 4-3 lead. 

Dylan Thompson got his third goal of the weekend, and his first of the game on an empty net goal with 52 seconds remaining in the third. He now has five points in his two games with Motor City. 

The Rockers will carry its five game winning streak on the road to Watertown on Thursday night before heading out to Danbury for two games on Friday and Saturday.