The Trenton Devils continued to slide last week, getting shut out at home by the Texas Wildcatters and Cincinnati Cyclones before salvaging a point against the Gwinnett Gladiators in a 5-4 overtime loss on Saturday.
The T-Devils have now lost a season-high seven straight and have dropped to sixth place in the ECHL North Division.
Against Gwinnett, Trenton's struggling offense finally broke out in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game.
Trailing 2-0 early, the T-Devils received goals from left wing Andrew Leach and center Jim Henkel in the last minute of the second period to even the score. Right wing Matt Radoslovich carried the offensive momentum into the third, scoring a minute into the period to give Trenton a short-lived lead.
After one of the Gladiators' forwards, Andy Brandt, evened the game up at 9:29, right wing Joe Rooney tallied on a breakaway to give Trenton another brief lead. With 4:30 remaining, Gwinnett connected on the power play to force overtime, where right wing Tomas Pospisil won the game with a one-timer at 3:36.
The night before, the T-Devils ran into the surging Cyclones, who entered the contest riding a franchise-record 10-game winning streak.
Behind a potent offense and a 39-save shutout by goaltender Cedrick Desjardins, the division-leading Cyclones easily defeated the T-Devils 7-0.
The game got away from the T-Devils early, as they failed to capitalize on a string of four consecutive power plays in the first period. One of the power plays included 57 seconds of 5-on-3 action.
Although the T-Devils were able to keep the puck in the Cyclones' zone, Desjardins protected the net and held the game scoreless with several impressive saves.
After surviving the T-Devils' early pressure, Cincinnati was able to capitalize on the power play three times in the final minutes of the period.
Forward Matt Syroczynski opened the scoring at 15:38, rocketing a one-timer from the slot past Trenton goaltender Jason Smith.
Syroczynski tallied again at 18:17, picking up a rebound in front of the net and wristing it over Smith's glove.
Defenseman Sean Perkins capped the opening period with Cincinnati's third power play goal, finding the net with a low slap shot from the point.
The Cyclones continued their assault in the second period as forward Jason Deitsch scored at even strength and defenseman T.J. McElroy tallied on a power play.
The Cyclones tacked on two goals in the third period, including their fifth power play goal of the game to finish at 5-for-10 with the man advantage.
The T-Devils' struggling power play finished 0-for-11.
Earlier in the week, the ECHL-best Texas Wildcatters shut down the T-Devils 3-0. The T-Devils again were scoreless on the power play, going 0-for-6.
On Monday, the team nearly turned the losing streak around before losing to the Johnstown Chiefs 4-3 in overtime.
Yesterday, the T-Devils began a five-game road trip. The team will return to Sovereign Bank Arena for a March 7 contest against the Elmira Jackals.
