The Wellington Dukes hung tough against a solid Newmarket Hurricanes squad, earning a point in a 3-2 shootout loss on Friday night.
The Dukes were outshot 48-28 on home ice, with the play of Dryden Riley being the difference-maker in a tight contest with 45 saves.
The two teams traded markers in the first, with Georgi Garimov cruising in and beating Riley clean over the blocker less than two minutes into the night and Justin Doak tying the score late on the powerplay from Zach Mascard and Landon Marleau on a loose puck in front of the Newmarket net.
Making his Dukes debut, Jordan Mayo brought plenty of skill and speed to the table and gave his new hometown fans something to cheer about by chipping a Mascard feed off the crossbar and in behind Alex Armellin at 15:39 of the second, with Jayden Levesque adding a second helper.
Presley Allain buried an Angelo Protopapas feed 4:45 into the third, triggering a back-and-forth third period with several chances being denied by Riley and Armellin.
Overtime solved nothing and it was Josh Giordano that was the lone shooter to score in the shootout, Wellington’s first since 2014.
Dukes shooters Levesque, Mayo and Mascard all couldn’t convert, with Mascard ringing the last shot off the post.
The Dukes fall to 2-1-1 on the season, but do pick up a point in the loss.
They will head to Pickering for a meeting with the Panthers at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
