CANTON, Mass. - After a back and forth first period, Canton showed off their adjustments in the second period, scoring twice before adding another in the third period to skate past #12 Scituate, 3-1.
"[Scituate] is an excellent team," said Canton head coach Brian Shuman. "It's probably one of the more skilled teams that we've played all year. They do some different stuff that we haven't seen this year. They really get their defense involved and they try to hit that home run stretch pass so they sort of backed us off a little bit in that third period which isn't something we're used to."
The first period of the game felt more like a feeling out process for both sides, trying to get the playoff jitters out while trying to figure out one another. Canton nearly got on the board just 90 seconds in when freshman Jerry Harding had a chance near the net, but the puck somehow ended up under Scituate goalie Dave Sheehan before being cleared away from the goal line.
The only other serious chance came late in the period as Jake McCarthy took a very long pass in stride from a defenseman and raced in on goal, seemingly alone. But senior defenseman Tony Francescon stayed right on his tail and used great stick work to disrupt McCarthy, who's shot sailed high and wide. The first period ended scoreless with Canton slightly ahead in shots, 8-6.
Canton dominated the second period, outshooting Scituate 10-3 in the period and played much stronger on and off the puck.
"Our guys adjusted pretty well and calmed down," Shuman added. "Anytime you have a first round playoff game, there's a lot of jitters. I don't care if you've played 10 of them in the past, theres jitters from the coaching staff all the way down. It was good for the guys to get that one under their belt."
Canton was unable to convert on an early play but nearly opened the scoring at the tail end of it. Ben Ledge played the puck onto the stick of sophomore Matt Lazaro, who chipped the puck ahead for sophomore Bobby Mullaney. Mullaney's bid looked to be heading for the back of the net, but his stick was jammed between the goalie and the post and the puck clanked off the iron. Canton kept up the pressure and just two minutes later, junior Brian Hagan weighted a perfect pass forward for Harding, who went in on goal but his low shot was met with Sheehan's pad.
As the Bulldogs continued to mount the pressure, senior Brendan Logan connected with Kevin O'Brien, who fed Mullaney, but his shot ended up wide as he was being taken down by the defenseman.
Finally, with 2:37 left to go in the second period, the Bulldogs were able to bury one. Harding carried the puck the length of the ice before laying it off to Hagan, who was able to beat Sheehan over his right pad with a second effort to make it 1-0.
The momentum stuck with Canton and just 42 seconds later, their top line cashed in. After a neat combination from Lodge and sophomore John Femia, the rebound off Femia's shot fell right to Lazaro, who buried it to make it 2-0.
Despite starting the third period on the man-advantage for the first 2:24, Canton was unable to add to their lead or keep a serious chance on goal.
"That's something we have to look at, special teams we have to really work on going forward," Shuman added. "On that four minute power play we didn't threaten at all. We knew we were going to get some odd man rushes against these guys considering how aggressively their defense plays, we just bury a few of them."
The Bulldogs did, however, bury their odd-man rush with just over ten minutes to go in the game. Lazaro broke into the zone from neutral ice with Lodge to his left and just one defenseman. Lazaro dragged the puck and faked a pass over to Lodge before sniping one high and glove side to make it 3-0 Canton.
Just 18 seconds later though, Scituate responded with a nice drag move over the middle before finishing back hand. Scituate's only other somewhat serious chance came two minutes later, after the puck bounced funny of a glove of a Canton defenseman and Teil MacPherson's wrist shot from distance was saved by the mask of Canton goalie Justin Slocum (19 saves).
Shuman praised Slocum for being composed and calm and his defense. He complimented Andrew Howlett, saying he played fantastic, Tony Francescon, for playing a great game, and freshman Jackson Maffeo for making his return after missing a month of action. Both Maffeo and sophomore Will Murphy filled in for senior captain Austin Zannino, who left the ice on his own power in the second period after a big hit, but did not return to the game.
Canton will now take on the winner of #4 Medway and #13 North Attleboro, who meet in Franklin at 4:30 on Thursday.
Ryan Lanigan can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.