Published: February 23, 2008 12:09 am         

Cyclones keep winning at Chiefs’ expense

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati became the second ECHL team to reach the 80-point plateau this season.

And the Cyclones – on the strength of a 14-game win streak – did it at the expense of the visiting Johnstown Chiefs on Friday night at U.S. Bank Arena, winning 5-2.

The Chiefs’ held their first lead in Cincinnati this season, which lasted less than 10 minutes of the first period, before Cincinnati (39-8-1-2, 81 points) answered. Johnstown then got into penalty trouble in the second period, and lost the first-game of a two-game road trip in Ohio.

“You know we got outplayed a little bit in the first period, but we came in after (the score was) 1-1 and that’s what we wanted,” Chiefs coach Ian Herbers said of the tie game after the first period. “It doesn’t matter what the shots were (15-3 Cincinnati), we were in the game right where we wanted to be.”

Chiefs defenseman Vincent Zaore took a tripping penalty 4:12 into the first period. At the end of Cincinnati’s ensuing power play, Chiefs center Ryan Garlock blocked a point shot and found Zaore for the breakaway as he left the penalty box. Zaore used a head-fake deke to the forehand and put it between the legs of Cincinnati goalie Cedrick Desjardins.

It was the Chiefs’ first shot and Garlock’s point-scoring streak reached seven games.

Cincinnati’s Mathieu Aubin evened the score at 1.

The Chiefs came undone 7:25 into the second period. Forward Mike Sgroi was called for a cross-checking penalty.

He slammed his stick off the penalty-box glass and was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, another minor. He learned of that penalty and left the box to voice his opinion to referee David Jones, who gave Sgroi a game misconduct.

The Cyclones couldn’t score on the original four-minute power play, but Garlock was called for tripping near the end of the original advantage, stacking the penalties.

Chiefs defenseman Mike Knight followed Garlock’s penalty with another misconduct 24 seconds later.

Cincinnati’s Thomas Beauregard scored on the two-man advantage to give the Cyclones their first lead, 2-1.

Five minutes later, Cyclones forward Ryan Maki scored his first ECHL goal to give Cincinnati a 3-1 lead.

“In the second period,” Herbers said, “we got a little selfish, a little stupid and there were some questionable calls. Together, that put us in some penalty trouble and we weren’t able to overcome that. We came out and played a good third period. We scored a goal right before the whistle that was waived off.”

Cincinnati’s T.J. McElroy scored on the power-play to give the Cyclones a 4-1 lead.

Chiefs forward Alexandre Imbeault scored off a rebound of Tyler Hirsch’s slap shot at 19:53 of second period to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Chiefs goalie Andrew Penner made 35 saves on 40 shots.

“Penner was ready right from the start and he played well for us,” Herbers said.

Cyclones center Olivier Latendresse scored his first of the season halfway through the third period.

The Chiefs (23-24-1-3, 50 points) play Dayton tonight at 7:30.

Notes: Cincinnati rookie David Desharnais registered an assist to extend his assist streak to 17 games, tying an ECHL record ... Chiefs captain Randy Rowe and forward Nicholas Bachand did not travel with the team to Ohio.

     

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