The Chrome kept their undefeated record intact as they defeated the Cannons 12-11 in what was a heartbreaker for them in overtime.

It was a tough start for the Cannons to begin the game but the perfect start for the Chrome as Will Haus broke the ice less than thirty seconds into the first quarter off an unfortunate turnover by the Cannons. 

Jordan MacIntosh continued to put his newfound dad strength to use as he followed up Haus’s goal minutes later, and notched another in the second quarter.

However besides MacIntosh’s two goals, as well as the goal from Haus and one from Logan Wisnauskas, the Cannons’ defense and Nick Marrocco dictated play for the first half.

Marrocco made ten saves in the first half and held the explosive Chrome offense to only four goals, keeping guys such as Brendan Nichtern and Dylan Molloy off the board.

Defenses have struggled to cover the Chrome’s attack this season, but in the first half the Cannons’ defensive unit seemed to find the answer to them as they gelled as one to quiet them. 

“Defensively the communication, the timely slides we were making, our entire defense played a great first half,” said head coach Sean Quirk. He mentioned the defensive play of new additions to the roster in Matt Rahill and Matt Abbott, as well as Tyson Bell’s switch to the long pole in specific as helping elevate their defense.

Connor Farrell went 8-for-12 at the faceoff stripe against Stephen Kelly in the opening half, but even so, the Cannons took a 7-4 lead guided by rookie Asher Nolting’s two goals and two assists, as well as two goals from Ryan Tierney, and goals from Lyle Thompson, Ryan Drenner, and Adam Charalambides’ first PLL goal. 

Down three entering the second half, the Chrome needed to come out sharp. 

It was a game of turnovers for both sides. In the first half alone, the Chrome recorded seven turnovers and the Cannons six. The turnovers continued to be an issue in the second half, especially for Chrome. 

The Chrome did not score a goal from MacIntosh’s second quarter goal at the 8:30 mark until Eli Salama finally got them back on the board in the early fourth quarter. 

The third quarter saw two goals, both from Thompson to Nolting as they played their two-man game to give the Cannons a five-goal cushion entering the final quarter. 

Unfortunately for the Cannons, the five-goal cushion was not enough as the tides turned in the fourth.

Despite another goal from Thompson in the fourth as well as Bubba Fairman’s first professional career goal as he came firing out the substitution box, the Cannons’ lead began to slip away quickly. 

“We started moving the ball a lot better in the fourth,” said head coach Tim Soudan. “[Justin] Anderson opened  it up for us, and then you have Connor Farrell winning faceoff after faceoff down the stretch. We came back from behind last week, but it was really good to see the resilience these guys had today, making as many mistakes as we did.”

The Chrome saw six different goal scorers in the fourth quarter, all who had not yet gotten on the scoresheet in this game. 

Nichtern notched a goal and two assists, Molloy a goal, Eli Salama recorded his third goal of the season, Justin Anderson with two goals and an assist, Mike Messenger with his second goal of the season, and Ryan Terefenko with the second-most memorable goal of the game as well as an assist.

With thirty-two seconds left on the clock in regulation and a tie game only a goal away, Nichtern found Terefenko up top who went in for the fake and finish to beat Marrocco and the Cannons’ defense and send the game to overtime. 

Ultimately it was Messenger who was the hero for the Chrome Saturday night as Nichtern once again helped get it done. As the Chrome pushed the ball in transition off a Cannons’ turnover, Nichtern made the quick feed to Messenger on the crease for the game winner. 

“It’s an honor to play with these guys,” said Messenger when asked of the fourth quarter into overtime comeback. “We definitely showed off there in the fourth quarter - no one gave up. The whole team, we pushed and pushed each other and ourselves, we got those hard ground balls, Farrell was amazing at X, Sconone in goal, our defense was standing up, our offense was moving the ball quick, everything just started adding up and it paid off.”

The Chrome’s overtime victory solidified their first place spot over the also undefeated Whipsnakes. 

The Chrome look to extend their undefeated record to 5-0 as they face off against the Atlas next Friday at 9:45 PM ET, and the Cannons hope to bounce back against the 0-4 Chaos on Saturday at 6 PM ET.