STATELINE, Nev. — The Savannah Ghost Pirates delivered their most commanding performance of the season Friday night, cruising to an 8–1 victory over the Tahoe Knight Monsters.
Savannah opened the scoring at the 7:14 mark of the first period when Robert Mastrosimone redirected a shot from Keaton Pehrson to make it 1–0. Logan Drevitch earned the secondary assist.
The lead doubled minutes later as Reece Vitelli drove a puck toward the net that deflected off a Tahoe defender and in for a 2–0 advantage.
Physical play escalated shortly after, as Josh Davies and Jake Durflinger dropped the gloves, followed moments later by bouts between Cole Krygier and Anthony Collins. Savannah carried its 2–0 lead into the first intermission.
Just 13 seconds into the second period, Matt Koopman extended the lead to 3–0 by burying a feed from Nick Granowicz. Savannah continued to pour it on as Mastrosimone added a power-play goal, assisted by Vitelli, to make it 4–0. Moments later, Cristophe Tellier scored on a breakaway to push the lead to 5–0, with assists from Bryce Brodzinski and Krygier.
Tahoe broke through with a point shot from Olivier LeBlanc, cutting the deficit to 5–1.
Savannah answered with another power-play marker, a 4-on-3 goal from Nicholas Zabaneh, who tipped in a blast from Dennis Cesana. Mastrosimone added an assist on the play.
The Ghost Pirates tacked on two more in the third period. Noah Carroll extended the lead to 7–1 at 16:31 with a shot from the right side, assisted by Brodzinski and Drevitch. Just over a minute later, Cesana added on, with Vitelli and Evan Nause collecting assists, closing out the decisive 8–1 win.
Evan Cormier was steady throughout, backstopping Savannah to victory.
The Ghost Pirates return to action tomorrow night for the finale of the three-game series against the Tahoe Knight Monsters, with puck drop scheduled for 10:00 p.m. ET. Fans can stream the game live on FloHockey or listen on Mixlr. For tickets and more information about upcoming games, visit ghostpirateshockey.com.
— GHOST PIRATES —
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