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October 28, 2014

3-In-3; Ottawa Finally Steals a Road Victory

Petr Mrazek was the last Barberpoles netminder to pull off back-to-back wins on a Western Conference road trip, pulling off the feat exactly three years ago.  Perhaps it was a hunch for the 67's to give their latest European goalie a chance to do the same, unfortunately for them, an unsuccessful hunch.


Leo Lazarev, while he may not be stealing away the starters job just yet, showed why he is the goaltender of the future in his two outings this past weekend.

He didn't break the streak of losing records on western trips, but Ottawa will gladly take the one road win they did collect, their first victory away from home ice since February.

Studnicka's Rough Weekend

There may already be a suspension coming for Sam Studnicka after he was ejected in Kitchener on Sunday, and there may be another one coming in the near future if he doesn't keep his fight total down.

Studnicka racked up 37 penalty minutes on the weekend, five for a fight on Friday after Ottawa fell into an early 3-0 hole, 17 in the first period on Sunday for instigating a fight after a clean hit on Dante Salituro, and five and a game for a second-period slew-foot.

If the OHL is following their precedent for suspensions on slew-foots, Studnicka could miss a game.

Furthermore, Studnicka is three fights into the OHL-mandated limit of ten.

The rugged Ottawa winger did pick up his second goal of the year on Friday, unfortunately with one second left in regulation of their 5-2 loss.

Ottawa 2, London 5 (Friday)

Liam Herbst got the nod against his former team and it wasn't pretty.

Herbst was pulled after 20 mintues and three quick London goals, a margin that extended to 5-0 with Lazarev between the pipes in the second.

Perhaps the only positive was rookie Travis Barron, adding a pair of third-period points.

Ottawa 6, Sarnia 1 (Saturday)

Lazarev took over the crease in the second of the 3-in-3 and ran with it.   Had it not been for fellow Russian Nikita Korostelev breaking the shutout with 12 seconds left, Lazarev would have collected his first career shutout.

Tyler Hill finally got into the goal column for the season, while Erik Bradford added a pair and Dante Salituro added to his league-leading total of 11.  Artur Tyanulin and Brendan Bell scored in the third to put the game away.

Ottawa 2, Kitchener 6 (Sunday)

Travis Konecny may be struggling in the early going and may still be shaking off the cobwebs from the headshot he received against Plymouth, but when he gets going, the rest of the OHL takes notice.

Konecny opened the scoring with a perfect shot inside the post on Sunday, only his second tally of the season, although it ended up being the lone Ottawa highlight.

Four second-period goals from the home side sunk the Barberpoles, even with another tally from Salituro.

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Ottawa continues on the road in Niagara, taking on the struggling and banged-up IceDogs, before taking on Erie and Guelph.

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