Injuries thrust new goalie Marshall Nicholls into Erie Otters' starting role

Erie Otters goaltender Marshall Nicholls had not played since late November when he was thrust into the starting role last week.

An injury to fellow netminder Nolan Lalonde forced Nicholls into service for all four Erie games over the past week. Nicholls helped the Otters to five out a possible eight points with a 2-1-1-1 week.

Nicholls' week was bookended by matinee wins. He had 19 saves in the 6-4 Martin Luther King Jr. Day game over Saginaw and then finished with 21 saves in Sunday's 4-2 victory at Erie Insurance Arena against those same Spirit.

"I'm getting more confident," Nicholls said. "It comes with more starts and more game action. I've got to keep riding it."

Nicholls found his way into a larger role after his billet brother, Aidan Campbell, went down with a long-term hip injury. A day-to-day injury to Lalonde increased Nicholls' time even more.

"It sucks to see those guys go down," Nicholls said. "I'm really good friends with all of them, (but) I'm happy to get in the net and do the best I can every night."

Nicholls' win on MLK Day was his first in the OHL after he had five straight decisions go against him.

"He hadn't played for a long time," said Otters head coach B.J. Adams. "Now he goes 3-in-3 (three games in three days), which is very hard to do. Overall, he did a great job this weekend."

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3-goal 3rd lifts Otters on Sunday

Elias Cohen had two goals and one assist, helping the Otters storm back from a 2-1 deficit Sunday. Christian Kyrou had one goal and one assist while Noah Sedore had two assists.

Cohen's second goal tied the contest at 2-2 with 46 seconds into the third. Sedore had an assist on the tying goal.

Kyrou gave Erie the lead for good 64 seconds later off an assist from Ryan Thompson.

Daniel D'Amato added an insurance goal with 10:05 left in the game. The Otters co-captain's leadership shone brightly, Adams said, as he played with an edge most of the night, including a fight at the end of the second period before Erie's third-period outburst.

"D'Amato has been outstanding," Adams said. "His leadership has been second to none here. Him, Brendan Sellan and Hoff (Brendan Hoffmann), our three (overagers), have been great leaders."

Erie falls in shootout Saturday

Spencer Sova had a pair of goals Saturday night as the Otters forced overtime before falling in a shootout at EIA. Kyrou and Connor Lockhart also scored for Erie.

Dalton Duhart led the Spirit with a pair of goals.

Sova's second goal came with 2:40 left to tie the game at 4-4.

Saginaw's Pavel Mintyukov converted the only shootout goal. Sedore, Lockhart and Kyrou were turned away by Andrew Oke, who was the highest rated OHL goaltender on the NHL midterm rankings.

Oke totaled 42 saves for Saginaw while Nicholls had 18 for Erie.

Erie overwhelmed on Friday

The London Knights recorded six unanswered goals as the Otters fell 6-2 in their only road game of the weekend.

D'Amato and Sellan had first-period goals to stake Erie a 2-0 lead. D'Amato also had an assist while Cohen had two assists.

Luke Evangelista and Sean McGurn had two goals and two assists each for London.

Nicholls finished with 28 saves while Brett Brochu recorded 35 for the Knights.

Otters add Jackson to goalie room

The Otters added 17-year-old goaltender Keegan Jackson to their roster after Lalonde went down to injury.

Jackson dressed all four games during the week. He was most recently a member of the Welland Jr. Canadians of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. In 23 games with Welland, Jackson had a 6-14-1 record with a .900 save percentage and 3.49 goals-against average.

Jackson appeared in one preseason game for Sarnia this year and had 34 saves in a 4-3 shootout loss.

Contact Josh Reilly at jreilly@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNreilly.