Blaine, MN – The Amarillo Wranglers opened their regular season and the 20th annual NAHL Showcase with a 2-1 overtime win against the Janesville Jets.
Connor McDonough got the start in net for the Wranglers while Matthew Alberti got the nod in net for the Jets. McDonough ended the 2022-23 campaign with four straight shutouts to help the Wranglers make the postseason. Alberti came into the game with a 2-0-0-0 record, a .972 save percentage, and a 1.00 goals-against average.
The first period was scoreless and saw only one penalty committed. Janesville’s Geno McEnery went to the box for a tripping minor. Amarillo was able to hold possession of the puck and generate some scoring opportunities on the man advantage but was unable to capitalize.
The Wranglers got another opportunity on the power play early in the second period when Janesville’s Garrett Frazer was assessed a minor penalty for head contact. Similar to their first power play, Amarillo was able to hold possession of the puck in the offensive zone and fire shots on net but couldn’t score on the man advantage. A wicked wrist shot by Alex Papaspryopoulos opened the scoring 9:22 into the second period to give the Wranglers a 1-0 lead, assisted by Roman Zap and Topi Puikkonen. Papaspryopoulos’ goal was his first in the NAHL, and Puikkonen’s assist was his first NAHL point.
Amarillo’s penalty kill was put into action 4:19 into the third period. The Wranglers’ PK unit was up to the task, as the Jets struggled to get anything going on the man advantage. Janesville’s Jake Merens tied the game 8:28 into the third period on a wrist shot goal that beat McDonough over his right shoulder – ending McDonough’s impressive shutout streak at 287 minutes and 48 seconds. Hayden Zimmerman picked up the lone assist. The Jets would go back to the power play 10:11 into the third, but once again, the Wranglers penalty kill unit was able to get the job done. No more scoring occurred in the third period sending the game to 3v3 overtime.
In overtime, the Jets and Wranglers traded scoring opportunities early, but the game was ultimately decided 1:20 into overtime when Alex Papaspryopoulos banked a shot off the post to beat Alberti for his second of the game. Roman Zap created the scoring opportunity when he found Papaspryopoulos at the Jets blue line in transition from the defensive zone. Kyle DeMarco also picked up an assist on the game-winner.
Amarillo outshot Janesville 33-20 in the win and went 2/2 on the penalty kill. Connor McDonough stopped 19 of 20 shots and Alex Papaspryopoulos picked up two goals. Roman Zap also notched 2 assists. The victory was also Head Coach Ryan Anderson’s and Assistant Coach Conor Yawney’s first win behind the bench of the Amarillo Wranglers.
The NAHL Showcase continues on September 14th when the Wranglers take on the Minnesota Wilderness at 5:00 PM CDT in the second of four games at the NCS Super Rink in Blaine. All games are available to stream on NAHLTV.