Trudeau's 43 Saves All-For-Naught in 8-5 Loss

The Ottawa 67’s may have saved their wildest game of 2013 until the third-last game of the calendar year, but fell short to the Kingston Frontenacs for the fourth time on the year by a score of 8-5 on Friday night.

Philippe Trudeau faced 51 shots in the losing effort, stopping 37 of the first 41 pucks he faced before allowing three goals on the last 10.

“We were hanging on by our fingertips there, not making smart plays and not managing the puck well,” said Chris Byrne of his team in the third period. 

“When you don't follow a gameplan and you try to get into a run-and-gun game with an offensive team, you're not headed for a good result.”

After fourty minutes, the teams were deadlocked at four, with Ottawa being outshot 32-13.  After Kingston took its third lead of the game, Ryan Van Stralen scored on the 67’s first shot of the period.

The 67’s only registered one more shot for the final 10 minutes of the game, while the Frontenacs pulled away in that time with goals from Robert Polesello, Darcy Greenaway and Sam Schutt.

“We were fortunate to be tied going into the third, and again, we're turning the puck over and making plays we shouldn't be making,” added Byrne.

If it weren’t for Kingston’s 15th-ranked powerplay that has struggled of late, the game may have been over by that point.

“They really did well,” said Byrne on his team’s penalty kill.  “That group with (Sam) Studnicka, (Brendan) Bell, (Taylor) Fielding and (Connor) Brown were outstanding.”

Ottawa killed off six of eight powerplays against, while scoring on each of their two man advantages on the night.

The visitors appeared to be running away with the game early on goals from Schutt and Ryan Kujawinski, dominating the shot clock 16-1, until Ottawa got its first powerplay.

Van Stralen scored his first of the night to cut the lead in half. 

Brett Gustavsen and Joseph Blandisi scored 53 seconds apart in the second period to close a gap that had been previously stretched to 3-1.

Roland McKeown had one of his four points by way of a powerplay goal, but Dante Salituro scored shortly thereafter to tie it again.

Matt Mahalak only had to make 10 saves for the win in the visitor’s crease.

Ottawa has eight days off before they take on Belleville for the second time this month.

Game sheet can be found here.

Assorted Notes:

• Considering Kingston was the team that was heavily delayed in getting to the rink, it was the 67's who had no legs early on.  Their first powerplay woke them up.
• John Urbanic was lucky to get away without a misconduct for throwing punches at Kingston's Lawson Crouse in a scrum late in the third.  The league could look into it.
• Travis Konecny's 0 points and -3 rating don't do justice to the huge game he had.  A number of huge hits and just missed on a breakaway early in the third.
• Taylor Davis has been cleared to play, but with the performance of Troy Henley lately, it's possible that it takes a while for Davis to get back into the lineup.
• At this point last year, all eyes were on Tyler Graovac and Cody Ceci, as everybody knew that the selling 67's would likely send them elsewhere.  Now, it's very possible that Van Stralen and Gustavsen end up being shopped.  Urbanic and Fielding could also be available for a contender.