Matt Gaudet didn’t wear a mic on Tuesday night; he also didn’t record any points. But his presence was still a major reason why the Chrome sit at 2-0 after a thrilling win over the Redwoods.
While Gaudet chose to not be mic’d up in his second game in order to prevent any team distractions, he still managed to let the chirps fly and get inside the head of the Redwoods defense early on. Redwoods players committed three penalties on Gaudet in the first half and the Chrome converted on the power play chances, scoring three goals. This led the Chrome’s to a 10-4 halftime lead.
Tempers flaired late in the half when Redwoods defenseman Garrett Epple drew two penalties for a high hit to Gaudet and then cross checking him in the head twice while the rookie laid on the ground. Gaudet popped up and the Chrome proceeded to cash in on the penalty opportunity.
On the backs of Ned Crotty and Justin Guterding, Chrome put up nine goals in the second quarter and the Chrome appeared to be cruising to an easy 2-0 start.
Redwoods Respond Late
Nat St. Laurent told NBC before the start of the second half, the Woods had been in the situation before, and had experience fighting back from deficits. While Myles Jones and Ryder Garnsey each added a goal in the third quarter to cut the deficit to five goals, it was until the fourth quarter when Sergio Perkovic hit a tow-pointer that the Woods started to come alive.
The Woods would score again thanks to Brendan Gleason’s first career goal, but Jesse King would negate the score with a Chrome goal of his own. Yet, Perkovic once again hit another critical two-pointer with 12 seconds left to make it interesting. Chrome would hold on to win 12-11, but Redwoods could take some consolation in that they kept their goal differential at a manageable -5, despite sitting in last place in the standings.
Garrett Epple Suspended for One Game
Many took to social media to voice their opinions on Epple’s cross-checking on Gaudet after the whistle, with most wanting him to be ejected and eventually suspended.
On Wednesday morning, the league announced that Epple had been suspended for one game, making him ineligible for the Woods game against the Chaos. Epple announced that he would not appeal his suspension and accepted “full responsibility” for his actions.
PLL Betting Breakdown
The Chrome went into the game as 1.5-point underdogs. They not only covered the spread, but won outright and improved their future odds to +425 in the process. The over/under was set at 24.5 and once again teams flirted with but didn’t hit the over. Of the six PLL matchups so far, none of them have hit the over. While they say “life’s too short to bet the under,” it may be the safe thing to do when betting on the PLL.
Next Up
The Redwoods have a quick turnaround as they face the Chaos at the rescheduled time of 11pm ET on Wednesday. The Chrome will face the Archers in the battle of the undefeated on Thursday at 9:30pm ET.
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