NORFOLK, VA – March 1, 2024 – Brooklyn Kalmikov, Zach Malatesta, and Jimmy Lambert all registered multi-point games in a 5-3 Maine Mariners loss to the Norfolk Admirals on Friday night at Norfolk Scope Arena. The Admirals scored three unanswered goals after trailing 2-1 to flip the game, and fended off a late Maine rally.
It was a high-scoring opening period, with each team striking twice. The Mariners got the first goal of the game at 1:19, when Chase Zieky found a puck trickling behind Admirals goaltender Yaniv Perets, produced by an Austin Albrecht shot. Norfolk defenseman Darick Louis-Jean answered at 6:44 with a backhander in the slot to tie the game. The teams then traded power play goals – Zach Malatesta putting Maine back on top with a goal in his 300th career ECHL game, and Sean Montgomery answering back for Norfolk.
Norfolk’s Kamerin Nault scored both goals of the 2nd period to give the Admirals a two-goal lead. Nault’s first came at 3:55, when Gehrett Sargis circled the net and fed one out to Nault short side. The Mariners nearly tied the game on the power play toward the end of the period, when Chase Zieky was robbed on a rebound by Admirals goaltender Yaniv Perets. Nault then scored on a Norfolk power play at 17:09, when a Denis Smirov shot caromed off the post and then off his back.
Still trailing 4-2 with a little over five minutes to go, Maine’s Brooklyn Kalmikov ripped off a wrister between the circles at 14:37 to pull the Mariners back within one. Louis-Jean found the empty net at 18:34 to seal the victory for the Admirals. Mathieu Roy failed to make it 6-3 when he flubbed an empty net breakaway in the final seconds.
The Mariners (22-24-6-0) finish the regular season series with Norfolk on Saturday night with a 6:05 PM puck drop from the Scope. They return home for a sold out 10:30 AM “School Day” game on Tuesday, March 5th vs. Worcester, the first of eight home games in the month of March. Single game tickets for all regular season home games are on sale at MarinersOfMaine.com or at the Ware-Butler Box Office inside the Cross Insurance Arena. More information on ticket packages and group discounts can be found by calling 833-GO-MAINE or visiting the Mariners front office at 94 Free St. in Portland. The 2023-2024 season is presented by Hannaford to Go.
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