Pavel Gogolev has his eye on the prize.
In this case that prize is 50 goals, something only five players have accomplished in club history.
With 10 games remaining in the regular season the Russian winger now has 41 goals after notching a pair in a 5-3 win over the Erie Otters Friday night at the Sleeman Centre.
Guelph scored three unanswered goals in the third to earn the come-from-behind victory.
“I still have a job to do,” Gogolev said when asked about reaching the 40-goal mark.
“I kind of want to get to 50. I’m going to try to get there. It’s hard work. I want to work hard to try to get there,” Gogolev said of the half-century mark.
Trying to reach it won’t include cheating up the ice.
“With George, if you cheat, you don’t play,” Gogolev said with a smile.
Coach George Burnett said Gogolev is having a special season offensively, but is also showing improvement in other areas.
“It’s a special number to maybe have an opportunity to get 50. He’s had a terrific year for us and he’s doing more things well,” the coach said.
“That line has played extremely well together and when he goes, when all three of them go, they’re a really good line in our league, for sure.”
It was a 1-1 game after the first period Friday and the Storm led 2-1 in the second before Erie scored on both sides of the special teams coin – once on the power play and once shorthanded – to lead 3-1 heading into the third period.
A Keegan Stevenson shot deflected in off Cedric Ralph’s skate to make it 3-2 and then Eric Uba tied it up on the power play.
Uba was Johnny on the spot when Fedor Gordeev’s stick exploded on a slap shot from the point and Uba was there to sink the stray puck past Erie goalie Daniel Murphy.
Gogolev finished it off with an empty net goal.
“I thought we played well. The third line and fourth line were buzzing,” Gogolev said, agreeing that the team is showing mental maturity as well as physical resilience of late.
“Exactly. In the second period we got scored on in the last minute and we just tried to explain to them ‘there’s nothing wrong. It’s only one goal. It’s not like we’re down 6-0 or something,” Gogolev said. “Just come out, work hard and be confident.”
Burnett said he was pleased with the way the team responded with a strong first period and also kept Erie’s shot total to 24
Guelph also had a huge penalty kill late in the game, killing off one minute, 25 seconds of a two-man disadvantage.
“We had a monster kill … then we worked hard to get a power play after that,” Burnett said.
The win leaves the Storm tied with the Windsor Spitfires for fifth place in the Western Conference, with the Spitfires holding a game in hand.
Guelph plays in Windsor Saturday night.
The Storm played Friday night without defenceman Josh Wainman, who took a shot off his foot Wednesday in London. It’s not broken but he won’t play Saturday.
Andrei Bakanov continues to be sidelined with a hip issue.
Cooper Walker and Jacob Roach both returned to the lineup on Friday.
