Midfielder Danny Kelly found Derrick Marcano to put the Blast up by 10 at 11: 26 in the third en route to a 19-4 win over the Buffalo Blizzard in front of 3,578 at Baltimore Arena last night.
Kelly brought the ball out of the Blast end, dribbled it up the sideline and found Marcano open in front of the net, the fourth of Kelly's five big plays.
It was the third big play for the Marcano/Kelly combination. Marcano had assisted two Kelly goals previously in the game.
"Danny works hard, and I just try and work hard to get the ball to him," Marcano said. "I just wanted to get the ball in a scoring position for those guys."
Kelly had four goals total, including a three-pointer, on a night when the Blast bounced back from one of its worst performances of the season the night before to maybe its best. The team lost, 19-5, to Harrisburg on Friday after falling behind 16-0.
"We weren't feeling good about ourselves," Kelly said. "We weren't playing well. We needed this win to get back on track."
With the score tied at 4 after the first period, Kelly sandwiched two of his goals between forward Denison's Cabral's. Cabral's goal at 4: 18 in the third period put the Blast up 12-4. Kelly's last goal, a three-pointer, put the Blast up 17-4.
"I expect these things out of myself," Kelly said. "I haven't been able to produce like I wanted to produce for the team so far. Hopefully this was a breakout night for me, and I can produce like this for the rest of the season."
The whole team produced like it once did at the beginning of the season, dominating play that was sustained to the Blizzard's side of the field. The Blast outshot Buffalo 22-9 in the first half, 39-17 for the game.
Baltimore accomplished this without forward Erik Rasmussen, who injured his groin in Harrisburg. Rasmussen will miss the next five games. His injury forced Marcano from defender to forward, paving the way for his big night. Blast coach Kevin Healey also moved Barry Stitz from the midfield to defender, and midfielder Shane Dougherty saw his first action of the season.
"I played forward my rookie year," Marcano said. "I've been a forward all my life, so it's not really new to me. I'm comfortable up there."
After going scoreless in the first half the previous night against Harrisburg, the Blast scored 56 seconds in the game when Mark Thomas scored a rebound goal from a Ronnie Simmons shot for a 2-0 lead.
"We came in tonight, and we just went over what a winner is all about," Healey said. "It is about intensity and intelligence, composure and confidence."
The four points was the lowest point-total goalkeeper Scott Hileman and the Blast recorded this season.
"We needed to stay focused for the short periods of time," Healey said. "Let's win quarters and within quarters. Let's win from timeout to timeout. You do that by blocking shots and getting forward and making good decisions."
