It did not look like a good start. With only 33 seconds into the opening frame, Henri
Ikonen picked up his 7th goal of the season after he banked in a sharp angle
shot off of Jonathan Duchesne’s skate in front of the net. That was Ikonen’s 14th career point against
the 67’s in 10 games.
Hoping to avoid a repeat of their 7-4 loss earlier this
month when the Frontenacs also got off to a quick lead, the 67’s regrouped and
fought harder in the last half of the first period. Their hard work paid off
and forced the Frontenacs to take penalties.
The 67’s went 0-4 on the powerplay, but the extra man-advantage
gave them a lot more momentum leading to more scoring chances. The 67’s outshot the Fronts 10-4 in the first
20 minutes but were unable to solve backup goaltender Lucas Peressini in the
Kingston net.
The game was scoreless in the second period but filled with
penalties in the second half. Both
goaltenders shut the door stopping all 23 shots in the period. 67’s coach Chris Byrne was impressed with
both goaltenders, “Trudeau’s solid, he gives us a chance and I thought both
guys were pretty good tonight.” (Trudeau made 35 saves and Peressini made 30 saves).
It wasn’t until midway through the second that the 67’s were
able to solve Peressini. Joseph Blandisi
scored his 10th goal of the season after Ryan Van Stralen won a
battle with the puck and slid a nice feed on the stick right in front of the
net. Blandisi has a knack for scoring late
period goals. Of his 10 goals this
season, 8 have come in the 3rd period. Byrne
explains, “[Blandisi]’s a clutch player.
For us, he’s our go to guy up front.
Definitely a hard working player that plays with some grit and some
determination and that’s his style.”
Less than two minutes later, Tyler Hill took a questionable tripping
penalty that led to the Fronts game winning goal. Up until that powerplay, the Fronts looked a
little lifeless and were 0-3 in the game.
The Fronts moved the puck very well and capitalized on their late
chance.
Despite the 67’s best efforts in the final seconds, the
Fronts held on to their 2-1 lead and snapped a 4-game losing streak. The 67’s dropped to a record of 6-9-0-0.
The loss spoiled the debut of the two newest 67’s blueliners
Owen Stewart and Ryan Duhaime. The two were acquired last week and did not
look out of place tonight. “I thought
they played well. Nice for them to get into practice for a week, get some time
into them and to figure things out a little bit. I thought that both guys were pretty tonight
good again,” Byrne reinforced.
Stewart and Duhaime will continue to see more icetime with
the lengthy injuries on the 67’s blueline.
Mike Vlajkov is likely out until next season, Taylor Davis is out for a couple
months with a concussion and Adrian Sloboda is still a couple weeks away with a
high-ankle sprain.
Byrne isn’t worried about a log jam when the defensemen
start returning from injury, “That’ll be a nice problem to have, so I’ll worry
about that when that happens.”
Ottawa 67’s are in Peterborough on Saturday night and then
travel back to host the red-hot Oshawa Generals on Tuesday night.
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