The Trenton Golden Hawks battled back a couple of times after trailing, but couldn’t overcome the Markham Royals in a 6-3 loss on Friday night.
Mason Cruzet intercepted a Trenton clearing attempt and set up Zach Gardner for a one-timer in tight to beat Dylan Lee-Stack at the 9:37 mark of the first period, giving Markham a 1-0 lead.
Josh Brady tied the score in the second, rushing in after Isaiah Shantz loosened the puck from a Royals player’s stick and tapping the disc past Noah Caballero, but Andrew Brees answered less than two minutes later and the Royals carried that lead into what turned out to be a wild third frame.
After Andrew Pacheco made it 3-1 less than two minutes into the final period, Jamie Darlison ripped an Owen Outwater feed over Caballero after Kale Mace fought his way into the Royals zone for his second assist of the night at 8:36.
Trenton’s press for the equalizer paid off in the final five-and-a-half minutes, as Jack Ziliotto broke through on a rebound with some help from Taeo Artichuk and Beckett Ewart.
The tie lasted just shy of a minute when Athan Miwa tapped a Philip Govedaris feed in the gaping Trenton cage to restore Markham’s lead for good.
Govedaris then capitalized on the ensuing powerplay off a penalty that proved costly to bump the Royal advantage to two, before an empty net capper from Cruzet.
Logan Bennett showed some fight for his team by dropping the gloves with Alex Kontos in the waning seconds, but the Hawks couldn’t change the result on the scoreboard on a tough night.
Trenton outshot Markham 33-28 in dropping its third straight game and now sit third in the East, two points behind Newmarket with two games in hand.
The Hawks will try to wrestle a win in their first-ever visit to the King Rebellion at 3 p.m. Sunday.
