Spiders sink Lakers 5-3

Nov. 17, 2018

An early lead, timely scoring and stout defense helped the B1 Spiders notch back-to-back wins for the first time this season as they sunk the Lakers 5-3 Saturday at Eden Prairie.

Despite fielding only 10 skaters for the night, the Spiders (3-1) peppered the scoreboard with goals in each period, starting with Jason Yancey’s (3 goals on the season) wrister at 5:23 in the first period.

Lakers captain Ross Bullard evened the score at 1-1 with a powerplay goal for the Lakers early in the second period when Amir Berenjian slid a pass through the legs of an approaching defender and to Bullard, who had floated into the slot undetected. The Spiders countered on Aaron Forsman’s first of three goals on the night at 11:07, which gave the Spiders a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

The Spiders widened the margin to 3-1 late in the second period when George Forsman capitalized on an adept outlet pass from defenseman Hank Long. George entered the offensive zone on a wide angle, dropped the puck back to Dominic Forsman, who ripped a wrist shot into the upper left corner for his first goal of the season at 4:19, to the delight of a Spiders-friendly crowd.

The Lakers scored less than a minute into the third, making it a 4-2 game, when Berenjian netted a long backhand from the high slot. Over the next 10 minutes, both teams tightened their defense in front of the net, until Aaron Forsman scored consecutive goals with 7:56 and 2:37 remaining, putting the Spiders up 5-2. Assists on the goals came respectively from defensemen Hank Long and Joe Reudy.

The Lakers (0-3-1) were able to narrow their deficit to 5-3 with 35 seconds remaining in the third period. But that late tally was all for naught, as the Spiders blue liners - led by Dave Krenn - clamped down on the Lakers offensive sets from start to finish, by forcing the them to take many wide-angle, low-percentage shots. Spiders goalkeeper Greg Buell stopped 33 of 36 shots.

The win has the Spiders at 3-1, in sole possession of third place (6 points) in the B1 standings. Their next opponent is the B1 Barons, the first team on the Spiders schedule to have made the playoffs last year. Puck drops at 7:40 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 25 at Aldrich Arena in St. Paul.