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Flint Generals snap four-game skid on goal by Matt Elich with 20.8 seconds left in OT
by Brendan Savage | The Flint Journal
Thursday November 20, 2008, 9:44 PM
Matt ElichFLINT, Michigan — Matt Elich was thinking the same thing as virtually everyone else at Perani Arena Thursday night.
Here we go again.
Leading in the third period, the Flint Generals watched the Muskegon Lumberjacks stage a comeback with three unanswered goals, much the same way they did when they rallied to win two weeks ago in Flint.
Only this time, the Generals were able to get off the ropes and deliver a knockout punch in the form of an overtime goal by Elich that provided a much-needed 6-5 victory before an announced crowd of 936.
Elich scored on a rebound off a shot by defenseman Martin Ondrej with 20.8 seconds left in OT to snap Flint's four-game losing streak and give the Generals (5-8-1-1) sole possession of fourth place in the International Hockey League standings.
It averted a potentially devastating loss since the Generals carried a 5-2 lead to the third, when they've lost four times after leading or being tied through 40 minutes.
"It was a typical Flint Generals third period," said Elich, whose two goals gave him five for the season. "We go brain dead for five minutes and by the time we try to catch up, they're two goals ahead of us. (A loss) would have been a killer.
"We've having a little struggle now but we're trying to establish some home-ice presence. Teams have games in hand on us and if we don't start keeping pace, we're never going to catch up. It was a critical win."
The line of Elich, John DiPace and Steve Rymsha accounted for five of Flint's six goals.
Elich and DiPace ( had two apiece, Ryshma (4) had one and the trio combined for 11 points.
John DiPace
2 goals, 2 assists
"Obviously, that line played great tonight," said coach Bobby Reynolds, who recorded his first win since returning to the Generals bench a week ago. "We need them to lead and they did it tonight. It was good they ended up burying the game winner.
"There are certain times of the year when you need a big win and this is the time of the year we need to get rolling and get our confidence back to where it should be."
DiPace and Elich scored first period goals to give the Generals a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes, Rymsha scored in the second to help Flint take a 3-2 lead to the third and the Generals appeared to break it open when DiPace and Justin DePretis (4) scored 58 seconds apart to make it 5-3 just 1:35 into the final stanza.
Some fans were so confident they began singing "Nah, nah, nah. Nah, nah, nah. Hey, hey, hey, goodbye" to the Lumberjacks.
Big mistake.
Maxime Lincourt (6) and Luke Stepfather ( connected 23 seconds apart to make it 5-4 before Henry Kuster (7) knotted it with 7:24 left in regulation.
"One thing is we have a lot of unity on this team," Elich said. "Guys are falling into place. Once we get everything in place, we'll move forward and have all cylinders going."
"Maybe that will be a turning point in the season."
Muskegon, which moved into sole possession of first place with a 7-3-1-0 record, will host a rematch tonight before Port Huron visits Perani Arena Saturday night.
In General: Jan Jas, Flint's Most Valuable Player two years ago, re-signed with the Generals and had one assist. ... The Generals also signed forward Jason McCrimmon, who made his Flint debut. ... Greg Bullock (back) didn't play for the Generals and Jared Dumba was a healthy scratch because Flint had to sit another veteran. ... There were only two penalties, both against the Generals in the second period.
Muskegon 1-1-3-0 — 5
Flint 2-1-2-1 — 6
First period — 1, Muskegon, Stauffacher 7 (Robinson, Kuster) 3:10. 2, Flint, DiPace 7 (Elich, Rymsha) 12:23. 3, Flint, Elich 4 (DiPace, Ondrej) 15:54. Penalties: None.
Second period — 4, Flint, Rymsha 4 (DiPace, Jorde) 6:12. 5, Muskegon, Woollard 6 (Collins, Robinson) 15:56 (pp). Penalties: Mallette, Flint (tripping) 7:07; Rymsha, Flint (slashing) 14:54.
Third period — 6, Flint, DiPace 8 (Rymsha) :37. 7, Flint, DePretis 4 (Jas) 1:35. 8, Muskegon, Lincourt 6 (Bagron, McArthur) 5:42. 9, Muskegon, Stauffacher 8 (Kuster, Robinson) 6:05. 10, Muskegon, Kuster 7 (Stauffacher, Robinson) 12:36. Penalties: None.
Overtime — 11, Flint, Elich 5 (Ondrej, Alban) 4:39. Penalties: None.
Shots on goal — Muskegon 10-10-12-4—36; Flint 13-5-15-2—35.
Goalies — Muskegon, Zaniboni 2-0-2-0 (35 shots-29 saves); Flint, Alban 2-3 (36-31).
Power-play opportunities — Muskegon 1 of 2; Flint 0 of 0
A—936.
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