CINCINNATI — The Johnstown Chiefs won their first game of the season and head coach Jeff Flanagan earned his first ECHL victory on Thursday night at U.S. Bank Arena.
The Chiefs built a big lead, lost the advantage and came back with a third-period goal to beat the Cincinnati Cyclones 4-3.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Flanagan, a first-year Johnstown coach. “It feels fantastic.”
But it wasn’t easy.
The Chiefs stormed out to a 3-0 first period advantage on goals by Jarrett Konkle, Dan Collins and Troy Schwab.
But Cincinnati evened the score in the middle frame on goals by Scott Reynolds, former Chief Mark O’Leary and Bryan Leitch.
“We played really well in the first period,” Flanagan said. “The second period we just seemed to, I don’t know if we got overconfident but we let things go. In the third period we played like we did in the first and got a goal. Everybody played very well.”
Chiefs defenseman Greg Gallagher netted the game-winner 4:04 into the final period with assists from Konkle and Jim McKenzie. Konkle finished with three points, and Schwab had two.
The Chiefs are 1-6-1-0 with three points. They visit Wheeling on Saturday night.
Flanagan said he saw a lot of positives, especially in the first 20 minutes.
“We were getting shots through to the net. We were driving the net, stopping in front and getting a net-front presence,” he said. “We were putting in rebounds. Jarrett Konkle skated hard across the blue line and there was a one-on-one situation. He let a laser beam go from the top of the circles and hit the top corner. The other goals were hard-work goals and the guys being there when the opportunity was there.”
In net, Shane Connelly stopped 25 of 28 shots for his first professional win.
“Shane Connelly played really well for us,” Flanagan said of the University of Wisconsin product. “It’s a good feeling.”
Chiefs newcomer Moises Gutierrez played his first game with the team.
The big right wing traveled from Anchorage, Alaska, to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, and joined the Chiefs bus in the Steel City for the rest of the trip to Cincinnati. Flanagan had claimed Gutierrez off waivers from Alaska on Wednesday and signed the former Elmira Jackals player.
The Chiefs had to work for the first win. Flanagan believes the team actually might benefit from experiencing the Cyclones’ three-goal comeback.
“This gives us huge momentum,” Flanagan said.
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