Northport/Huntington Hockey Downed by Top-Seeded Kings Park-Commack, 7-2

Matthew Goldberg had four goals to go along with captain Kyle Twinning's three assists as undefeated Kings Park/Commack defeated the Northport/Huntington Tigers Monday, 7-2 in the Suffolk County High School Ice Hockey League.

"He's a complete player," said Kings Park (7-0-0) head coach Dave Rysdyk about Goldberg. "He moves the puck around to everyone so that by the time it gets back to him he's in position to score."

The Tigers (2-4-0), who were playing with only 12 skaters due to some unusual absences, failed to generate much offense against Kings Park early, and fell behind quickly.

"We had some no-shows," said Tigers' assistant coach  Walter Janketic. "I'm not sure where everybody was. But we were a little shorthanded, and a little tired from last night and it definitely showed."

It was the second game in consecutive nights for the Tigers, who fell to Long Beach on Sunday. They will finish a stretch of three games in four nights Wednesday against St. Anthony's at 9 p.m.

An already shortened bench was intensified by the fact that the Tigers took seven minor penalties over the course of the game. Kings Park/Commack turned three of those power play chances into goals.

"The penalties hurt us," said Janketic.  "We got a short bench, some tired boys, killing all those penalites runs you down."

Kings Park scored their first power play goal of the game on a rebound chance in front at 3:28 of the first period. Goldberg pushed it over the goal line a fraction of a second before the net was dislodged. However, the referee was adament in his call that the goal would stand.

One minute and 14 seconds later, Kings Park's Brandon Amon was taken off for a roughing penalty, which afforded the Tigers their best scoring opportunity of the first period.

Northport's Julien Kann rushed past two defenders in the neutral zone and in on Seth Pachman, but Pachman made a sprawling kick save on the breakaway attempt.

Pachman stopped 21 of 23 shots he faced.

The game remained scoreless until Brett Kaiser took a feed from Twining to make it 2-0 at 10:33.

Goldberg struck again on the power play just prior to the 13 minute mark of the second period as he picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, walked in and beat Bryan Deschamps short side.

On the ensuing faceoff, defenseman Matt Janketic was given a 10 minute misconduct for not having his mouthpiece in. The rule, which also penalizes the team with a two-minute minor penalty, left Northport with only 11 skaters for most of the second period.

The Tigers managed to kill off that penalty, and drew a pair of their own as penalties to Goldberg and Amon gave Northport a brief 5-on-3 man advantage. However, they were unable to sustain any attack in the offensive zone.

With less than a minute to go on Amon's penalty, Twining made a defensive play that not only saved Kings Park from surrendering a scoring opportunity, but led to one of their own.

A Northport forward overskated the puck just before the offensive blue line, where Twining was retreating. Twining's  diving poke check from his knees not only thwarted the Tigers' attack, but sprung defenseman Dominic DiCostanzo on a breakaway, where he also beat Deschamps short side.

The goal ended Deschamps' night, as Joe Schrom replaced him before the next faceoff. He surrendered four goals on 14 shots, many of which coming from high percentage areas.

The third period couldn't end quick enough for the Tigers, who were running on fumes. Despite only outscoring Northport 3-2 in the final period, Kings Park held a 21-6 shot advantage in the final period, and controlled the pace of play for a majority of the final 15 minutes.

Goldberg got his third of the game just 77 seconds into the third period when he put back his own rebound.

The Tigers finally got on the board 29 seconds later as John Stahno took a feed from Kyle Becker and took a shot that fluttered past Pachman and into the corner of the net.

Twining found his way on the scoresheet yet again, as he skated down the left wing boards, and centered a pass to Josh Feldman who was right there for the tip-in at 4:30.

Goldberg scored his fourth and final goal of the game at 7:05 of the third period, while Kings Park was on the power play after Janketic took a tripping penalty at 8:49.

A few minutes later, Corey Twining, Kyle's brother, skated into the Tigers' zone and ripped a slap shot from the top of the right circle that rattled the waterbottle behind Schrom to make it 7-1.

The game got a bit chippy after that, with both teams receiving a pair of penalties for roughing.

"You want to limit the penalties," said Rysdyk. "We've got a big game coming up Wednesday night against Connetquot. You don't want to lose anyone for a game like that."

Northport's John McCloskey capped the scoring with just 1:12 remaining on a feed from Dylan Porcello.

"We'll bounce back," said Janketic. "They're young, they're strong, they're ready. We've got a day off tomorrow and we'll see if we get a better result Wednesday."