PORTLAND, ME – February 18, 2024 – Wyllum Deveaux scored the first goal, the last goal, and dropped the gloves as the Maine Mariners eked out a 3-2 win over the Norfolk Admirals on Sunday afternoon. The game was largely defined by penalties, with 118 combined penalty minutes assessed throughout.
For the third game in a row, the Mariners scored the first two goals. Deveaux opened the scoring at 3:21, finishing a nifty feed from Chase Zieky and putting one home from the left circle. At 5:05, Ethan Ritchie followed up on Austin Albrecht’s post shot and dribbled home the rebound to double the Maine lead. Norfolk got on the board at 7:20 when Kamerin Nault slipped one home, cleaning up bad angle shot from Carson Golder. The remainder of the first period was littered with penalties, as the teams combined for 80 penalty minutes, all set off by a explosive hit from Zach Malatesta. A total of three fights unfolded in the period, which took nearly an hour to play.
Penalty minutes continued to accumulate through the second period, including a four-minute power play chance for both teams, but the scored remained 2-1 into the third. Admirals defenseman Dmitry Kuzmin wired home a power play goal at 10:08 to tie the game and set up a frantic finish. With just over five minutes left, Jason Horvath’s shoot-in was collected behind the net by Austin Albrecht, who found Deveaux to break the tie with his second of the game. A late high-sticking call against Keaton Jameson stalled the Admirals comeback effort, but Norfolk had a good scoring chance just as the clock his zero.
Shane Starrett collected his sixth win of the season with a 30 save effort, while Oskari Salminen also made 30 stops for the Admirals. The Mariners improved to 7-2-0 on Sundays this season, and 26-8-2-2 since 2021-22.
The Mariners (20-22-5-0) begin a six-game road trip on Wednesday at Kalamazoo. They’ll head to Toledo, Cincinnati, and Norfolk before returning home for a 10:30 AM “School Day” game on Tuesday, March 5th vs. Worcester. 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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