Dashers Even Up Weekend Series
By Nate Williamson
Danville, IL - The Danville Dashers took home a win on Saturday night at David S. Palmer Arena after taking down the Port Huron Prowlers in a matchup that was packed with offense. The game was the second of a three-game homestand between the Dashers and Prowlers, and the crowd of over 1,100 fans were rewarded with a high scoring contest.
The Dashers opened the scoring almost ten minutes in with a goal from Nathan Campbell on a power play. Zach Zulkanycz got his first of the night on assists from Dalton Jay and Matt Robertson at even strength. In what would become a theme of the night, the Dashers answered back quickly with a goal from Daniel Martin less than five minutes later to regain the lead at 2-1.
Dalton Jay scored his fourth goal of the series at 5:38 into the second period to even the game, but Patrick Zilak answered less than twenty seconds later after Alex Pommerville and Fred Hein combined on some nice passing. The Dashers would extend their lead to 4-2 after Brandon Contratto scored on assists from Martin and Pommerville. With just over 15 minutes gone in the period Ryan Alves found the back of the net as Daniel Martin picked up his second assist of the night along with Nathan Pelligra. Zach Zulkanycz got his second goal of the night at 16:24 to cut the lead to 5-3.
Dalton Jay got his second of the night at 2:55 into the final period with Zulkanycz grabbing an assist. Fred Hein answered back just over two minutes later and hammered home a slap shot after some nice connecting passes from Dustin Henning and Alex Pommerville. Artur Drindrozhik would get the Prowlers' final goal of the night at 12:26 to cut the home team's lead to 6-5. Nathan Pelligra fired home less than twenty seconds later, and Daniel Martin scored on an empty net with one second remaining in the game for a final score of 8-5 on Luau Night.
The 3 Stars of the Game were Nathan Pelligra, Fred Hein, and Alex Pommerville.
The two teams will meet again tomorrow night to wrap up the weekend series in a Sunday matchup. Puck Drop is at 5:05 PM in Danville.
Photo credit: LMB Studios