The Portage Terriers head into the Christmas break on a sour note after a 2-1 shootout loss Wednesday night to the Niverville Nighthawks.
Offense was tough to come by throughout the night with both teams struggling to find quality chances. The Terriers looked tired after playing the second game in a row and league-leading 36th of the season.
Special teams didn’t seem to help either team. Portage wasn’t able to score on a pair of 2-minute five-on-three power plays and finished the evening 0/7. At the other end of the ice, the Nighthawks finished the 0/4 with the man advantage.
Finally, in the third period, the Terriers broke the deadlock. Parker Korman beat Raiden Legall low blocker side for his team-leading 14th goal of the season. Portage was unable to hang onto the lead though as Niverville’s Luke Mackenzie finished off a pass from the corner over the shoulder of Jayden Catellier, tying the game at 1 with just over three minutes to play. Legall and Catellier then shut the door in overtime forcing a shootout.
Michael Debrito scored on the first attempt for Niverville and Nolan Nenow scored on the third shot for Portage to extend the shootout past three rounds. Ultimately in the seventh round, Avery Laliberte beat Catellier on the glove side to win the game.
Portage outshot Niverville 32-30 and the team will now be off until January 5th when they visit the Steinbach Pistons. Going into the break, the team has a 21-7-4-3 record which is good for second spot in the East division.
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