In the last game at home for the 2018-2019 NAHL season, the Maryland Black Bears wanted to send its fans home with one more victory. While it was a close affair throughout the game, the Black Bears were able to claw its way to victory off of Luke Mountain’s overtime winner in a 3-2 win. Maryland debuted a new goaltender, Andrew Takacs, who got his first win in his NAHL debut.
The scoring started in the first period with another New Jersey power play goal. Gavin Gulash received a pass from Ryan Naumovski in the high slot, and put the shot top right side to make it 1-0. The Black Bears tied it the next period, where Jude Kurtas tipped a shot from Lukas Ljungblom for his first NAHL goal to tie game 1-1.
Connor Pooley put Maryland ahead with a quick low shot on Titans’ goalie Ryan Winter to make it 2-1. However, Chris Garbe tied the game for New Jersey with just under seven minutes to go. Garbe got the puck from a board battle and put it top right side for the tie. The game went to overtime, with each team securing a point.
It was a back-and-forth overtime frame, but in the end it came down the final seconds, with the puck on the stick of Maryland forward Luke Mountain. He came down the right side of the boards and picked the top left corner to win the game for Maryland 3-2. Ryan Winter made 22 saves in the loss while Andrew Takacs recorded 29 saves in his first NAHL win.
The Black Bears have four games left this season and they will all be on the road. Maryland will rematch with the New Jersey Titans March 29th and 30th, then end the season against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights April 5th and 6th.
