ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The Newfoundland Growlers lost the game and one their top scorers Wednesday night.
The Maine Mariners skated away with their third straight win over the Growlers at Mile One Centre, coming away with a 5-2 decision in the final game of an unusual four-game mid-season series.
Newfoundland had won the first of the four on Friday night, prevailing 5-1 to set an ECHL record with 19 consecutive home-ice victories. But the Growlers, with a roster hammered by call-ups to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, stalled and what had been the league’s top offence produced only a single goal for the next two games, a 3-1 setback Saturday and 2-1 loss Tuesday.
It is the team's first three-game losing streak this season.
On Wednesday, Newfoundland opened the scoring on a Brady Ferguson goal set up by Aaron Luchuk and Justin Brazeau.
But by the time the second period started, the Growlers had lost the lead — Maine had scored three times before the end of the opening frame — and had lost Luchuk, too.
The 22-year-old forward had been traded mid-game as the parent Toronto Maple Leafs dealt him and a conditional draft pick to the Ottawa Senators for forward Max Verroneau.
It means Luchuk is returning to his original NHL organization; he had been sent to Toronto by Ottawa as part of a multi-player deal last summer.
It means neither of the Growlers’ leading scorers are with the team; Giorgio Estephan, who like Luchuk, has 50 points with the Growlers this season, is one of seven players on recall to the Marlies.
The Leafs made a number of transactions Wednesday, all involving at least some players at the minor-league level. Beyond the departure of Luchuk, it remains to be seen how those moves will affect the Growlers, who leave St. John’s today on a road trip that starts with a game Friday night in Reading.
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