AMHERST – Pat Egan scored twice, including a power play goal, and added an assist to lead the Buffalo Jr. Sabres in their 6-2 win over the Milton Icehawks Wednesday night at the Northtown Center at Amherst.
The visitors struck first at the 5:34 mark of the first period on Viktor Mueller’s goal. Buffalo evened the score just under a minute and a half later with Nick DeSimone’s goal, assisted by Ryan Kuhn and Nolan Sheeran. Egan’s first goal of the game, assisted by Nathan Black and Brandon Schaber, then put the hosts ahead at the 11:26 mark of the opening period.
After Michael Ederer put Buffalo ahead 3-1 with his team-leading eighth goal of the season at the 5:14 mark of the second period (assisted by Schaber and Ben Casale), former Jr. Sabre and Grand Island, New York native Shane Bennett brought his Icehawks to within one goal by scoring his 10th goal of the season at the 6:27 mark.
That’s as close as the Icehawks would get, though, as Black responded for Buffalo with a goal just two minutes and one second later, assisted by Mason Evans and Ryan Schmelzer. Egan’s second goal of the game, on the power play at the 13:00 mark, extended Buffalo’s lead to 5-1.
Schmelzer added one more goal for measure with just four seconds remaining in the third period, assisted by Egan and Evans.
Buffalo outshot Milton 34-24, with Jr. Sabres goalie Joseph Pianta turning aside 22 shots to earn his seventh win of the season. Milton’s Ben Blacker made 28 saves.
The Jr. Sabres next travel to Wellington, Ontario for a meeting with the Dukes on Friday night, followed by a road stop at Newmarket to face the Hurricanes on Sunday.
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Photo: Pat Egan (file). By Ken Czworka, OJHL Images.
