By Kenton Wolfe | November 17 2017

The St. Catharines Falcons overcame an uneven start Friday night at the Jack Gatecliff Arena to post a resounding 6-1 win over the visiting Buffalo Regals.

Outshot 12-9 after the first period of play, the Falcons held a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes on a power play goal by leading scorer Lucas Smilsky.

Buffalo evened the score on a goal midway through the second frame by forward Nicholas Toscano, but defenseman Matt Busby gave the Falcons a lead they would not relinquish, scoring St. Catharines second of four power play goals on the night.

“Honestly, we just have a bunch of skill guys who are hard to stop,” said Smilsky. “Once the power-play gets moving, it’s impossible for other teams to stop and we like that.”

Evan Miller struck early in the third to widen the Falcons lead to two goals, and they never looked back, turning what had been a close game into a romp.

Dakota Miskolczi added a single and captain Michael Davies closed out the scoring with a pair to put the game out of reach.

“The first and second weren’t our best periods,” said Falcons Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald. “The third period was our saving grace because the guys focused in on what we wanted to do. We tested them on whether or not they wanted to be engaged in the game and the guys answered the bell.”

Owen Savory made 23 saves to pick up the Falcons fifth straight win and increase their lead atop the conference standings. Buffalo’s Nikolaos Manetas took the loss, turning aside 19 shots and picking up a pair of penalties that led to Falcons power play goals.

The Falcons next action is Friday, Nov. 24 at home against the Fort Erie Meteors, before heading to Caledonia the following night to take on the Corvairs in a battle between the Golden Horseshoe’s top two teams.

Thursday night in Thorold, the Falcons eked out a 7-5 win over the Blackhawks. Scoring for St. Catharines were Romaeo D’Itino, Tanner Ferreira, Zach Lawrence, Miller, Davies and Smilsky (2). Answering for the home side were Daniel Rocco, James Guest, Mason Howard, Devon Thibodeau and Spencer Blackwell.