When the Toledo Storm secures a lead after two periods, a win has been all but guaranteed. When it outshoots an opponent by 33, those odds are bound to skyrocket.

Toledo has yet to lose when it takes a lead into the third period and upped its record to 17-0-2 when it puts itself in that position with a dominating 3-1 victory over Trenton last night. The Storm outshot the Titans 51-18, including 11-3 in the first period and 23-5 in the second.

Mike James scored a power-play goal in the first and Chris Blight and Matt Schmidt added to the lead with second-period markers. Toledo (30-17-5) pulled within three points of second-place Wheeling and is now eight points behind division-leading Reading.

"Tonight was unbelievable. I looked up at one point and we were up 38-9 [in shots] and I thought, 'Oh, my God,'●" said James, who also had an assist.

The smallest crowd of the season at the Sports Arena (2,944) saw Toledo wins its third in a row. Trenton fell to 26-26-2 overall and 10-17-1 on the road. The two meet here again at 7:35 p.m. tomorrow.

Storm goalie Drew MacIntyre nearly posted his second shutout of the season and moved to 13-5-1. MacIntyre, who was starting in his 10th consecutive game, was forced to make only 17 saves.

"I'd rather face more shots, but I'm not going to complain," MacIntyre said. "We've been playing unbelievable defense. It's really encouraging as we go into the playoffs."

Jim Henkel scored the lone Titan goal on a power play with 10:56 left.

Toledo held Trenton to its lowest shot total in a period this season in the first, and it took the Titans more than seven minutes to get their first shot of the game. Their previous low was four shots in a period.

Storm coach Nick Vitucci said the game plan was to get pucks deep and rely on the team's cycling ability,

"We executed it well tonight," he said. "If we're in their end, we're not going to give up many shots. We welcome a game like this for Drew. We're playing four games in five nights and it's a good chance he'll start all four."

Vitucci also credited Titans goalie Rejean Beauchemin, who made 48 saves.

James collected his own rebound and beat Beauchemin to put the Storm on the board just 6:14 into the game. James, who had three assists Sunday against Reading, said he and his linemates, Blight and Bracken

Kearns, are "just getting pucks low and doing the simple things."

"If we get the lead, we don't sit back," he said. "We keep the forecheck going. We keep the pressure on. That's why we're winning games."

Blight tipped a shot past Beauchemin to bump Toledo's lead to 2-0 midway through the second. Blight's 20th goal of the year came on assists by Kearns and Matt Zultek. Schmidt tallied his first goal of the season 17:06 into the period on assists from Kearns and James.

"Some teams can get a little too confident with the lead," MacIntyre said. "This team doesn't take it for granted. I really enjoy watching the whole crew play like this."

"I'm really happy with our consistency," Vitucci said. "We're playing sound hockey. It's a confidence thing. We have our swagger back."

Contact Mark Monroe at:

mmonroe@theblade.com

or 419-724-6110.

First Published March 2, 2006, 1:13 p.m.