BY CHIP MINEMYER
JOHNSTOWN — The South Carolina Stingrays came to town early for a showdown with the Chiefs, settled in at the Holiday Inn on Wednesday and celebrated Thanksgiving as a team on Thursday.
Then Friday night they made themselves right at home at the War Memorial Arena, blasting the Chiefs 5-1 before an announced crowd of 2,235.
The defending Kelly Cup champions got goals from five different players and were bolstered by the 46-save performance of goaltender Braden Holtby in improving to 11-6-1-3 on the year.
The Chiefs slipped to 5-9-3-0.
Just five days earlier, the Chiefs had raked the Stingrays by a 7-1 count.
“On Sunday in South Carolina, we did not keep it simple,” said Stingrays coach Cail MacLean. “We tried to make things more complicated than they needed to be.
“We came out (Friday night) on the road in a tough building and concentrated on keeping things simple – getting pucks deep, working for shots, staying out of our own end.”
Holtby was spectacular, yielding only Sean Berkstresser’s power-play goal early in the third period. On Sunday, Holtby had allowed five Johnstown goals on just 13 shots before getting pulled from the game in the second period.
“We talked about how the puck can take funny bounces off the boards and glass here,” MacLean said. “We made a conscious decision that (Holtby) should stay in his net for the most part (Friday night), and he did a good job with that.”
The Chiefs outshot the visitors 10-8 in the first period, but South Carolina found the net twice.
Nikita Kasirsky knocked the puck past Chiefs goalie Shane Connelly on the game’s first shot just 50 seconds in.
Jake Hauswirth tallied the second goal with 6:40 gone.
A late-period penalty on Hauswirth put the Chiefs on the power play. But the best scoring opportunity with Hauswirth in the box was a short-handed breakaway by South Carolina’s Spencer Carbery that was denied by Connelly with 33 seconds left in the period.
Kris Mayotte replaced Connelly in the second, and South Carolina’s Dylan Yeo scored on a nifty backhand past Mayotte’s glove side at 11:17. Stingrays center Matt Fornataro got his second assist on the play.
The Chiefs got on the scoreboard on Berkstresser’s power-play tally 2:29 into the third period. Michael Couch and Connor Shields assisted on the goal.
The Stingrays snuffed out any thoughts of a Johnstown comeback with back-to-back goals a minute apart from Rob Ricci and Fornataro.
Fornataro’s three points led South Carolina offensively. Zach Takir, one of the top-scoring defensemen in the ECHL, added a pair of assists.
In addition to picking up the win, the South Division leaders also got to explore the city
of “Slap Shot” movie fame during their three days in Johnstown.
“We had a nice Thanksgiving meal together Thursday at the City View restaurant, and rode up together on the Inclined Plane,” MacLean said. “And we spent some time walking around, taking in the town. Everybody wanted to see where (Morley’s) Dog was. We were on the road away from our families, but it was nice to be in an historic hockey town this week.
“I thought it was nice to have these young guys come to a town and want to see what the city is all about.”
Notes: Johnstown’s David Schulz and South Carolina’s Carbery fought briefly late in the second, and each received the standard five-minute penalty. ... The Chiefs were 1 of 6 on the power play. ... Scratched players for Johnstown included wingers Moises Gutierrez and Jim McKenzie and defensemen Trevor Hendrikx and Mike Knight. .. The Chiefs are back in action tonight at 7:05 against Reading at the War Memorial Arena.
