Wolves' Early Push Fades in 6-1 Loss to Blue Ridge

WATERTOWN, N.Y. — Donovan Powell got the Watertown Wolves on the board late in the first period Saturday night at the Northern Credit Union Community Arena, and the Wolves outshot the Blue Ridge Bobcats 16-14 in the opening frame. But Blue Ridge's power play did the damage the rest of the way, as the Bobcats completed the weekend sweep with a 6-1 win.

Blue Ridge struck three times in the first: Patriks Marcinkevics opened the scoring at 4:35, James Tepper made it 2-0 at 12:15, and Eison Nee converted on the power play at 14:51. Powell answered on Watertown's own power play at 19:20, finishing a feed from Jake Schultz and Bret Parker to cut it to 3-1 heading into the intermission.

Marcinkevics struck again on the power play at 3:16 of the second to make it 4-1, and Blue Ridge closed it out in the third with power-play goals from Michael Macchioni at 8:22 and Vladislav Vlasov at 15:26.

Samuel Zgiet started in net for Watertown, and Anthony Shrum took over in relief at 14:51 of the first period, stopping 26 of 29 shots the rest of the way. Daniel Antal earned the win for Blue Ridge with 28 saves. Blue Ridge outshot Watertown 42-29 overall and went 4-for-13 on the power play; the Wolves finished 1-for-11.

Powell was named the game's third star.

The loss wraps a tough first-ever visit from the Bobcats, who took both games of the weekend series — 6-2 on Friday and 6-1 on Saturday. The Wolves are now 0-4-1 on the season and still in search of their first win.

Watertown hits the road next weekend, visiting the Port Huron Prowlers on Friday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31, with puck drop at 7:05 p.m. both nights.