The Wellington Dukes continued their surge up the East Conference standings with their sixth consecutive victory on Friday night, 5-3 over the Buffalo Jr. Sabres.
Buffalo’s first trip east in nearly six years got off to a dream start, with Cam Doran scoring his first of two goals on a shot that snuck under Dukes goalie Dario Cantini just 35 seconds into the night.
In a foreshadowing of what was to come, the Dukes got a fairly quick answer at 2:51 with a gritty play by Ethan Murray to drive the net and stick the puck home under Anthony Alessi in the Jr. Sabres crease.
Brett Kazmierski struck quickly into an early second period powerplay for Buffalo, but less than a minute later, Ryan Schaap hit back with a man advantage goal of the Dukes own for his 12th of the season.
About halfway through the second, Wellington killed off a penalty and went immediately on the attack, with Zach Mascard fishing the puck out of a goalmouth scramble and putting it in to give the Dukes their first lead.
That one-goal spread was held until the 9:38 mark of the third, when Doran caught Cantini off his angle for his second of the game to even the score.
Murray came alive again however with his second of the game to put Wellington back in the lead for good
Mascard wrapped in his second of the contest in the waning seconds to salt the win.
Schaap ended the game with a three-point night with a pair of assists, Zander Latreille added two helpers and Cooper Reid, Kyle Kavc, Riley Noble, Jared McNeil, Ronen McFarlane and Cory Jewitt added singles.
Cantini made 36 saves in a game where Wellington was outshot 39-23.
The Dukes are off to Toronto in hopes of extending their streak with another stop at St. Mike’s College Arena to face the Buzzers on Sunday at 2 p.m.
