So long, 2023. The Nelson Leafs won’t miss the year of hockey hell.
On Sunday afternoon, the one-year anniversary of the Leafs’ line brawl against Beaver Valley that changed the course of the franchise, Nelson was again at home to the Nitehawks.
No fireworks this time, just a bad second period that showed Nelson is still a work in progress.
Beaver Valley scored four fast, unanswered goals during the middle frame en route to a 6-4 win over the Leafs.
“Ten minutes just killed us is all it is,” said Leafs forward and new captain Leighton Partington. “We worked hard for 50, and 10 minutes we can’t take off and that’s what happens.”
Carsyn Crawford, Crae Dawson, Seamus Boyd and Parker White scored for the Leafs (13-13-2). Frederick Larochelle, playing for his third game in three days, allowed five goals on 17 shots. He was given the hook in the second period for Jackson McLeod, who gave up one more goal on nine shots.
Lohgan Nimmo, Lucas Gartner, William Ray, Tim Josza, Ethan Smyth and Boris Hristov replied for the Nitehawks (20-8-1), while Landan Uzeloc stopped 24 shots. Connor Stojan was forced to step in for Uzeloc in the third and finished the game with 12 saves.
December had mostly been a redemptive month for the Leafs after a poor start to the season. They entered Sunday’s game having gone 4-1-1 to cap 2023 and were 7-2-1 in their last 10 contests.
One of those losses was Friday’s shootout defeat on the road against Beaver Valley during a busy three-games-in-three-days weekend. Nelson also looked game Sunday after a strong start, and even scored a quick goal in the third period before the Nitehawks surged.
Leafs head coach Briar McNaney said his team are unbeatable when they get out of their own way.
“We’ve won every game this year, we’ve just beaten the wrong team sometimes. Thirteen times now we’ve beaten ourselves and you know, we’ve won a lot of games just for the wrong squad.”
The Leafs took an early lead thanks to a power play. Crawford whipped a shot in from the blueline that beat a screened Uzeloc on Nelson’s second shot of the game.
Less than two minutes later the Leafs had their second. Uzeloc stopped the initial shot during a scramble in front of his crease, but the puck rebounded to Dawson who had skated around the net and was perfectly placed for the goal.
The Nitehawks rallied with their own pair of quick goals in the final five minutes of the first period. Hristov found Nimmo with a cross-ice pass that had Larochelle diving across an open net to no avail.
It was a tie game two minutes later after the Nitehawks won a faceoff that led to a quick goal by Gartner.
The Leafs had reason to believe the second period would be theirs with a goal just eight seconds after the puck dropped. Nelson was playing with the man advantage when Boyd powered to the net and beat Uzeloc’s pad to take the lead.
Beaver Valley didn’t flinch. Instead, the visitors scored a stunning four unanswered goals to take control of the game.
The Nitehawks had a two-man advantage when Ray scored from the point, and less than a minute later Josza circled the net and beat an out-of-position Larochelle for another goal.
Larochelle came out of his net a short time later to play the puck, only to lose it to Smyth who calmly tucked the puck in for Beaver Valley’s fifth goal. That ended Larochelle’s afternoon, an unfair ending to a weekend that saw him making 46 saves Friday and another 29 in Saturday’s win against the Castlegar Rebels.
“At the end of the day, we’re a group of 20 guys who needed to do a job, not just one,” said McNaney. “[Larochelle] bails us out more than we bail him out. So he deserved a little bit better from us out front.”
He was replaced in net by McLeod, who allowed a goal on only the second shot he faced when Hristov beat him top corner. Suddenly the game was 6-3 for Beaver Valley and the second period wasn’t even half over.
The Leafs were able to stem the bleeding but penalty trouble in the third period kept them from mounting a comeback. They were helped in part by McLeod, who in the third made a pair of quick saves including one that had him slide across the crease to stop a shot.
McLeod got a loud ovation a little later on another pair of saves, one of which saw him use a blocker to emphatically bat a shot into the air.
At the other end of the ice, a scramble led to a Leaf down and Uzeloc backed into his net. He was clearly angered and jumped onto the Leafs player. That led to the goalie’s ejection, a five-minute major for head contact and a game misconduct.
The penalty gave the Leafs a lifeline with seven minutes remaining. McNaney pulled McLeod with less than six minutes left but Nelson iced the puck.
He was brought back to the bench and McNaney called a timeout to draw up a play with four minutes left, but Partington was called for boarding that negated their man advantage.
Hristov was then helped off the ice after taking a hard hit from Caden Still into the boards. Still was tossed for head contact, and suddenly the Nitehawks had a 5-on-3.
That ended any ideas of a comeback for Nelson, but with 22 seconds left White used a burst of speed to enter the zone alone, deke past one defender and beat Stojan for a short-handed goal that restored a little pride before the buzzer.
Leaflets: Partington made his overdue home debut as captain Saturday. He was handed the C while out with an upper-body injury, then wore it for the first time in the Leafs’ final road game before the Christmas break. “It’s an honour with this group we’ve got here,” he said. “Love all these guys and I just want to play for them.” … In the first period, a delayed call was delayed a little longer when an official blew his whistle only for no sound to come out. The only thing more surprising than a whistle breaking was that the official had a replacement in his pocket. … The Leafs open 2024 with a three-game road trip through the Okanagan before returning Jan. 12 against Kimberley for the start of a five-game homestand.