When Franklin Regional and Norwin battled on the ice Nov. 14, the Knights were short-handed and the Panthers breezed to an easy victory.
In Monday’s PIHL Class 2A rematch, the game was a lot different.
Franklin Regional (8-6) rallied from an early two-goal deficit to defeat Norwin, 6-4, in a game that ended with 2:37 left because of the curfew clock.
The Panthers won the first meeting 12-0. The Knights were missing numerous starters because of illness and injuries.
On Monday, the Knights (7-7) came out with fire and grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals by leading scorer Alex Thomas, who missed the first meeting. Thomas has 25 goals and 15 assists this season.
"We knew this game would be a lot different,” Franklin Regional coach John Winebrenner said. "We made some defensive changes against him. Our goal is to win out and we’re going to do that by playing better defense.”
Franklin Regional goaltender Grant Novotny made a big save against Thomas on a breakaway late in the first period.
The Panthers offense then came alive in the second period by getting four consecutive goals from Casey Schraeder, Jackson Falkner, Brendan Yohe and Max Rutkowski.
The Knights got a power-play goal late in the second period and had the man-advantage early in the third period when the Panthers’ Luke Anderchak struck with a short-handed goal.
But the Knights wouldn’t quit. Dom Cerilli chipped in a shot past Novotny to make it 5-4 and then Thomas hit the post, which would have tied the score.
Rutkowski then iced the win with his second goal of the game.
"Luke’s goal was huge,” Winebrenner said, "and Max’s goal iced it. I thought Max Williams played well all over the ice.”
Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review Staff Writer. You can contact Paul by email at pschofield@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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