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Playoff hockey is at its best when the games are tight and come down to the wire.
All three games of the USHL’s opening-round playoff series Monday night provided the kind of intensity fans crave, with each ending in one-goal outcomes.
Here’s a look at how the first night of the Clark Cup Playoffs went down.
Black Hawks Quiet The Storm
The Waterloo Black Hawks scored when it counted, and got solid goaltending from Carter Casey to edge the Tri-City Storm 3-2 in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference series at Young Arena.
Waterloo can clinch the best-of-three with a win Tuesday.
The Storm had a goal disallowed at 6:23 of the opening period after an official review determined there was a high-sticking penalty prior to a rush. However, Tri-City did grab a 1-0 lead at 17:05 following a Carmelo Crandell shot inside the opposite post.
It took until the latter half of the middle frame for Waterloo to tie the score 1-1. After a successful penalty kill, Bradley Walker scored off a Ryan Whiterabbit feed.
The game-winning goal occurred at the 13:57 of the third. Brendan McMorrow fired a shot to the top corner just above the left dot for a 2-1 Hawks lead.
Casey and the Waterloo defense took it from there. Casey stopped 23 of 24 shots to earn the win, including all 16 shots he faced over the final two periods. The Hawks had numerous other opportunities to score, but Tri-City’s Michal Pradel stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced for the tough loss.
Jacks Squeak By RoughRiders
A similar nail-biter took place in Muskegon. The Lumberjacks edged the visiting Cedar Rapids RoughRiders 2-1 in a game that also saw a goal overturned by video review and standout goaltending on both sides.
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Jack Galanek opened the scoring for Muskegon late in the first period following some confusion by Cedar Rapids on the faceoff. Galanek fired in a shot from the top of the circle to give the Jacks a 1-0 lead.
It wasn’t until early in the third period that the RoughRiders tied the score. Daniel Astopovich created a turnover deep in the Lumberjacks’ zone and fed the puck to Amine Hajibi, who scored from inside the far side circle.
Muskegon thought they had reclaimed the lead at the 16:00 mark, but the goal was overturned for goaltender interference.
They got a reprieve, however, with a minute left in regulation. Vaclav Nestrasil stole the puck from the RoughRiders’ goalie behind the net and tapped in a rebound for the victory that put the Jacks one game away from clinching the series.
Stephen Peck got the win in net, stopping 31 of 32 shots. RoughRiders’ netminder AJ Reyelts saved 26 in the tough loss.
Moe The Difference For Madison
The other Eastern Conference first-round matchup on Monday completed the trifecta of one-goal games. The Madison Capitols took a 1-0 lead in their series against the Green Bay Gamblers with a 4-3 victory.
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Mason Moe was the hero of the night for the Caps, scoring two goals in a comeback win.
The Gamblers had the early momentum, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals from Niles Benson and Aidan Park.
The Caps cut the lead in half late in the frame when Ian Scherzer scored on a 2-on-0 breakaway. Madison then tied the score 2-2 at 8:02 of the second period on a goal from Sam Kappell before Green Bay responded to take a 3-2 lead two minutes later on Park’s second goal of the night off a power-play.
Moe brought his team back late in the middle frame on a shot from the low slot. He notched his second goal of the night early in the third period, which turned out to be the game-winner.
Caleb Heil made 20 saves to earn the victory for Madison, while Gavin Moffatt took the loss with 31 saves.
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