JOHNSTOWN, P.A. – The Elmira Aviators (16-19-5-3) erupted for six goals, including four unanswered, en route to taking down the Johnstown Tomahawks (18-19-4-3) 6-4 at 1st Summit Arena Friday night.
For the second straight game, Elmira tallied six goals as its offense continues to thrive on the back of a surging power play. The Aviator man-advantage went 2/5 on Friday night with tallies coming from the team’s Top Prospects Tournament selections, Evan Dantas and Matthew Maglio.
The goals did not come easily early on for either team. Johnstown led 1-0 over halfway through the hockey game. Then, the Tomahawks doubled their advantage and added a third less than a minute later.
In an instant, the Aviators found themselves down 3-0 with under six minutes to go in the middle period. The offense then exploded for three unanswered to tie the game before the period’s end.
Newcomer Ben Taylor kicked things off with his first NAHL goal in his first career game. Dantas stole the puck off the stick of goaltender Zack Ferris behind the net, setting Taylor up with a gaping cage to get on the board.
Elmira got a late-period power play, hoping to pull within one before heading to the locker room for the second intermission, but it got even more.
Matthew Maglio weaved around the defense to score on the man-advantage for his team-leading 10th power play goal of the season. Ten seconds later, Corson Maguire found a deflected puck off a blocked shot and deposited it into a wide-open net to tie the game at three.
Maglio and Dantas’ goals are the quickest successive tallies in Aviator history.
Elmira kept the pedal to the metal in the third period. Jake Baratta scored an unorthodox shorthanded goal to give the Aviators their first lead. Then, after Johnstown had tied it back up, defenseman Kevin Delaney scored his second tally in as many games, giving Elmira a 5-4 lead.
The Aviators put a bow on the matchup with its prettiest goal of the night as Maglio and Luke Rubin passed through the Johnstown penalty killers, setting up Dantas for a spectacular one-timer to close the game.
The 6-4 victory is Elmira’s first regulation win at 1st Summit Arena and its first win in Johnstown overall this season. The Aviators will try to keep the offense hot and go for their first road sweep of the season at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Fans can stream the game on NATV or listen live on WINGZ93.
Mac Young is the play-by-play voice of the Elmira Aviators. To contact him, email [email protected].