The Moon Area Tigers extended their winning streak to five games Monday night as they edged the rival Montour Spartans, 3-2, in a PIHL Varsity A Blue matchup at Clearview Arena at RMU Island Sports Center.
The Tigers entered play on a roll, outscoring their opponents 27-5 in the previous four games, and they were looking to continue their momentum into their final regular season game against their rival.
Montour came into this game with confidence after defeating Meadville 5-2 on Jan. 26, breaking a six-game losing streak.
The goal scoring started quickly, when Montour got on the board just less than three minutes in, after a snipe from captain Trey Varga gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead.
Just 39 seconds later, Moon forward Ryan Muldowney was sent to the box for holding, giving Montour an opportunity to extend its lead. However, the Tigers were able to kill it off.
Later in the period, Moon had to kill off another penalty, after defenseman Brooks Underwood was called for tripping with 2:22 left in the first. During the kill, Moon lost forward Clayon Foster for two minutes for elbowing, giving Montour a 5-on-3. The Tigers successfully killed off the first penalty, and the Spartans took a 1-0 lead and 32 seconds of power play time into the first intermission.
The Tigers managed to successfully kill off the penalty early in the second period and were rewarded seconds later with their own power play opportunity after Montour forward Landon Keaton was called for roughing a little less than a minute into the period.
Montour continued the theme of strong penalty killing with another successful kill to keep its lead. With 13:55 to play, it looked like Moon had tied the game, but the referees ruled the play dead before the puck went in. However, Moon did get an opportunity to go back to the power play, as Montour defenseman Niko Sikorski was called for a penalty.
The Spartans once again bent but did not break, as they killed off their second penalty of the period. Moon grabbed another power play with 8:44 left in the period after forward Aidan Jennings got called for tripping. This time the Tigers made their rivals pay, with a power play goal 53 seconds in by a snipe from Foster.
Moon got back to the power play just 51 seconds later after an interference penalty on Montour forward Luke Zacharias. Montour’s penalty kill had a better showing this time around, not allowing Moon to take the lead.
The parade to the sin bin continued for Montour, as Spartans forward Dylan Hogue was called for roughing with 1:51 left in the period. The period ended deadlocked at 1-1, with Moon having nine seconds of power play time left heading into the third period.
Montour managed to kill off the last nine seconds of its fourth penalty of the game to open the third period. The game remained tied until the Tigers took the lead with 8:41 left to play off a goal from forward Jordan Rieke to make it 2-1.
Less than 20 seconds later, Montour defenseman Anthony Klimas headed to the box for tripping, and Trey Varga, who scored the lone goal for the Spartans up to this point received a 10-minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct.
During the power play, The Tigers took their own penalty, as forward Eric Hartman got sent to the box for interference. With both teams killing off their penalties, Montour tied the game at 2-2 with 5:42 left to play off a shot by Hogue.
The tie, however, was short lived, as Moon retook the lead just 39 seconds later, with Rieke grabbing his second goal of the game to make the score 3-2.
Moon finished the regular season 14-5, good for third place in the Class A Blue Conference. The Tigers’ next game will be determined based on playoff seeding but they will host whoever they match up against at RMU Island Sports Complex.
As for Montour, the Spartans sit at 6-12 with two games left to play. They host Indiana next Monday at the RMU Island Sports Complex, with the scheduled puck drop at 7:15 p.m.
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