Tuesday Thriller: The Hat Tricks Take the Win on the Road

Danbury 4 @ New Jersey 1 - The Danbury Hat Tricks completed a suffocating road victory against the New Jersey Titans that ended with a 4-1 score. Danbury laid on the shots, and netminder Jon Dukaric stayed steady in net, a perfect combination for a gutsy win against a formidable division rival. The first period was exciting but quiet until Rhys Medved fired a wrist shot into the back of the net and broke the silence. The Hat Tricks came out swinging, posting 15 shots in the first frame alone. Danbury then tacked on two more in the second period. First, Matt Shpungin deflected a Ryan Lukko shot from the point. Then, just 17 seconds later, Matt Dabrowski tapped in a rebound from a Kai Elkie shot that formed off a two-on-one rush. The Titans seemed to be down and out until Owen Leahy gave his squad a jolt in the final minutes of regulation. Deimantas Sulinskas scored in the dying minutes on the man advantage to push the lead to 4-1 just before the final buzzer. Building a team from the net out is a common belief among hockey minds. In this one, we saw this on full display, with Dukaric playing a near-flawless game. The Danbury defense was solid for the most part, as they did not allow many high-quality opportunities despite allowing Dukaric to see 28 shots. All they needed to follow was some productive offense, and that’s what they got en route to a huge East Division win.