WESTFIELD, Mass. – Fitchburg State first-year forward Michael Imala (Oak Lawn, Ill.) registered two goals and added an assist as the Falcons capitalized on three-man advantage opportunities to pull away from Westfield State, 6-2 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game from Amelia Park Arena on Saturday evening.
The Owls drop to 10-6-1 on the season and 7-5-1 in the MASCAC. The Falcons improve to 9-6-2 overall and 8-3-2 in conference action.
Fitchburg jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, scoring their first of three power plays goals on a one-timer by Jack Johansen (Milford, N.H.) from the point on a low shot that beat Owls goaltender Valtteri Valtonen (Helsinki, Finland) 3:29 into regulation time.
Westfield found the equalizer five minutes later with Emile Pichette (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) winning a puck battle in the defensive end before flipping the puck towards the middle of the defensive end to the tape of Christopher Miraldo (Montreal, Quebec) who split a pair of Falcons defenders and forehanded a shot past Falcons netminder Max Macchioni (North Kingstown, R.I.) for the equalizer and his 14th goal of the season.
Just over the midway point of the opening period, an even strength goal from Toivo Kramer (New York, N.Y.) gave the Falcons a 2-1 advantage as his initial shot from a tight angle was stopped by Valtonen with the rebound deflecting back into the net, ending the period up one goal.
A pair of power play tallies in the second period vaulted the Falcons lead to four goals with Imala scoring his seventh goal of the season with two seconds remaining on the man-advantage to open up a 3-1 lead.
In the closing minutes of the middle period, Adam Nedelka (Srch, Czech Republic) fed a pass from the top of the triangle to the stick of Alexandre Bauvais (Meudon, France) who ripped a slap shot high and past the blocker of Valtonen to stretch the lead to four goals.
The Owls cut the Falcons lead to two goals seven minutes into the third period with Daniel Finegan (Chicago, Ill.) and Gianluca Marini (Lighthouse Point, Fla.) directing the puck to Cooper Board (Salem, Mass.) for his fourth tally of the season, making it a 4-2 contest with 12:11 to play.
Fitchburg had the answer to the Owls score, sealing the game away with consecutive goals three minutes apart from each other with Imala's second goal of the night stretching the lead back up to three goals. Kristopher Zapata (Cherry Hill, N.J.) capped the scoring for Fitchburg on a tape-to-tape feed by Kramer to close the evening.
Macchioni (W, 6-3-2) recorded 33 saves for the Falcons with Valtonen (L, 5-3) picking up 22 saves in the contest. The shots were even at 35 shots apiece.
Westfield State travels to UMass Dartmouth for their next game on Thursday at 7:30 P.M. Fitchburg State hosts Framingham State on Thursday at 6:30 P.M.