Prowlers Score Three Late to Beat Enforcers

By Jonathan Kliment 

Elmira, NY - After a narrow 3-1 victory on Friday night, the Elmira Enforcers and Port Huron Prowlers met up for the final time of the 2018-19 regular season on Saturday. The Enforcers led in the season series 6-0-0-1 and were looking to stay unbeaten in regulation, only to have the Prowlers pull a 5-3 upset.

Newcomer Nathan Pelligra was able to put the Enforcers on the board first with a snipe from the slot at 6:25 into the game. Port Huron would not be easily dismissed and Elmira's hot penalty kill unit would finally break down not once, but twice. Zachary Zulkanycz scored the first on a power play from a rebound off Cody Porter's back, followed by a Matyas Kasek ripper from the slot. After one period the Enforcers trailed 2-1. 

The second period started off with a bang as Ahmed Mahfouz scored a point in his 22nd straight game, and his 53rd in that stretch. The frame then saw some back and forth when it came to penalties, but no other damage was done. The final period was set to be quite a battle with a tie score of 2-2. 

The third period quickly launched back in favor of the Enforcers as Stepan Timofeyev buried a goal on the power play over the shoulder of Cody Karpinski. However, Port Huron struck back with a vengeance. Zulkanycz got his second of the night a little over a minute later. Artem Stupnikov put the Prowlers ahead for good at 15:32, and Austin Fetterly sealed the deal at 19:10 for a final score of 5-3. 

Cody Porter stopped 33 of 38 shots in the defeat, while Cody Karpinski won the match up of former Watertown netminders, stopping 30 of 33 shots. 

The Enforcers are back in action on a Guaranteed Win Night tomorrow at 4:05 PM as they welcome the Carolina Thunderbirds to First Arena.

Photo credit: Curtis Berleue Photography