ELMIRA, N.Y. — The Johnstown Chiefs only allowed one goal on Friday night.
But that tally by Elmira’s Pierre-Luc Faubert was enough to send Johnstown into a tie with the Jackals for third place in the tight North Division. Elmira won 1-0 at First Arena.
“They’re all huge games now,” Chiefs coach Ian Herbers said. “It was a playoff game (Friday). It was that kind of atmosphere. It was tight checking. They clogged up the middle. That’s what it is like down the stretch. It’s playoff hockey starting now.”
Cincinnati (57 points) and Wheeling (56) each won, with the Cyclones padding their margin over the Chiefs and the Nailers leap-frogging them in the standings. Elmira (54) moved into a tie with the Chiefs (54), who began the night tied for second.
“We created some chances,” Herbers said. “We had a couple breakaways and they were caught in some 2-on-1s. We just didn’t finish. Our power play didn’t produce. If we get a power play goal we’re in overtime or if we get on a power play roll, we might win it.”
The Chiefs went 0-for-6 on the power play and mustered only 18 shots in the game. Elmira had 21 shots.
The Jackals’ Mitch O’Keefe had an 18-save shutout. Keserich was mostly solid in his first game since Jan. 10.
“Keserich played well. He gave us a chance to win,” Herbers said. “He allowed one goal. We know we have to score more than one goal to win games. We missed the net on a couple point blank shots.”
Herbers said forward Andrew Sarauer made an impact in his first game back since his Dec. 6 recall to Lake Erie. Sarauer had been injured for the past three weeks.
“Sarauer was moving the puck and driving the to net,” Herbers said. “He created some chances. It was nice to have a big body back in there.”
