FOXBORO, Mass. - In a battle of the top two teams in the Kelley-Rex division, Franklin’s experience paid off as seniors Vince Geromini (goal and an assist), Troy Donahue (game-winning goal and an assist) and Devon Maloof (18 saves) propelled the Panthers to a 3-2 victory on Wednesday night at a packed Foxboro Sports Center.
The victory puts Franklin in the driver’s seat to bring home a league title and the allows the Panthers to control their own fate. Win out and the title is theirs.
Regarding the importance of the match-up with Mansfield, Panthers head coach Chris Spillane remarked, “You hate to say that it’s the one that you mark at the beginning of the season but we’ve been looking at it for a while and we’re glad to have it behind us and that it ended up in our favor.”
Hornets head coach Rick Anastos added, “I thought it was a good game -- physical. I thought they beat us to the puck a little bit tonight, especially in the first and third period, but in the second we bounced back pretty good.”
Franklin took a two-goal lead in a dominant first period. Geromini followed up a shot by Donahue that was saved by Mansfield goalie Dan Moyer to open the scoring with 7:28 left in the first. Two minutes later, junior Alec Borkowski took advantage of one of Mansfield four first period penalties to double the lead.
“Penalties kill us,” Anastos reflected. “You can’t give them power plays; you can’t give a good team the opportunity to score. They only scored one power play goal, but you can’t give them that many chances.”
The Hornets turned things around in the second period. Junior Evan Kershaw blasted a shot from the point to cut the lead in half and then with just 2:59 left in the second period sophomore Pat Graham beat Maloof on a two-on-one to tie the game.
“I think we got a little comfortable with a two-goal lead coming out in the second period and they jumped on it,” explained Spillane. “They were aggressive, they had a two-man forecheck, and they were throwing pucks at the net and they went in.”
This is when Franklin’s experience turned the game on its head. Only a minute after watching the Hornets come from two goals down, Franklin broke from its defensive zone on a three-on-one and Geromini hit Donahue with a perfect pass to tap the Panthers back in front.
“[Mansfield was] building on it and they had all the momentum so it was good,” he said. “Our seniors stepped up today. Vince Geromini had a goal and an assist and then Troy had a nice goal. We need those guys.”
Anastos remarked, “We let up a three on one just a minute after tying the game and that killed us. It was a sinker. They won the first period, we won the second period, and it was a tie in the third period -- they just got one more goal.”
Franklin’s defense was focused on keeping the top line quiet for the Hornets and, other than an assist on the Kershaw goal, the Panthers were able to limit the chances for the league’s leading scorer Adam Blackman.
“They’re a well-coached team…They’re first line is as good as any that we’ve seen,” said Spillane. “We talked about that we have to shut down their first-line and then you have a chance. We did that pretty well tonight.”
Franklin (7-4-1, 5-0-1) will return to the Foxboro Sports Center on Saturday to take on Foxboro and Mansfield (9-2-1, 6-1-1) will try to clinch a spot in the playoffs Saturday against Stoughton.
Josh Perry can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.