A pair of goals by Arhip Sidarovich and an offense that found its groove by firing 50 shots on goal helped power the New Jersey Titans to a 5-2 victory over the New Hampshire Mountain Kings on Saturday night at the Tri-Town Ice Arena in Hooksett, New Hampshire. By winning both games this weekend, New Jersey swept the season series against the expansion Mountain Kings, winning all 4 games between the teams.
The Titans again scored the first, just 3:39 into the game when Johnny McMahon stole a puck at center ice and broke into the New Hampshire zone. His slap shot off the rush from the top of the circle generated a rebound that went directly to Dominick Rivelli, giving New Jersey’s captain his team leading 17th goal of the season. Sidarovich doubled the Titans’ lead when he went coast to coast just over 4 minutes later, wristing a shot from the blue line before splitting the New Hampshire defense and putting home his own rebound for the Belarussian’s 5th of the year. Logan Renkowski picked up the lone assist. The Mountain Kings would get one back just over a minute later, but Sidarovich restored the two goal lead with a snipe to the far side with 4:03 to go in the period for his second of the game and 6th of the season, assisted by Jack Hillier and Leo Schwartz. For Hillier, it was his third straight game with a point, and the Titans went into the first intermission up 3-1.
A New Hampshire goal 8:12 into the second cut the New Jersey lead to one, but the Titans began the third period on the power play after a slashing call against the Mountain Kings at the end of the second period. Just 17 seconds in, pretty passing led to all five Titans on the ice touching the puck before Nikita Meshcheryakov was left alone in the slot, snapping home a Hillier pass from the hash marks to put New Jersey up 4-1. Rivelli got the other assist on what should be considered a team goal. Skating four a side halfway in the final period, Ethan Wongus added an insurance marker when he picked up a loose puck in the corner and powered his way to the front of the net for his 12th of the season. Zak Brice stopped 27 of 29 shots sent his way, picking up his second straight win.
With the victory, the Titans improve their record to 21-18-2, while also moving into a tie for 5th place in the division with the Northeast Generals. New Jersey will now spend a week idle before meeting the Danbury Jr Hat Tricks at home on Tuesday, February 13th, at 7:30pm. That game will serve as the prelude before the Titans host the Northeast Generals on Military Appreciation Weekend February 16th and 17th.