The Petes entered the game on a 3-game win streak which included two big wins against the powerhouse Erie Otters on Thursday & the top CHL team, the Oshawa Generals on Friday.
It was the 6th of 8 meetings between the two clubs where Ottawa had so far posted a 4-1-0-0 recorded.
The 67's opened the scoring in the first period on a excellent tic-tac-toe play between Travis Konecny, Evan de Haan & Dante Salituro resulting in Salituro's team leading 28th goal of the season.
"We've been playing together all year, on and off on the power play. We know where to find each other," Salituro said about his power play linemates. "We've developed some chemistry over the time."
The goal extended Salituro's point streak to 7-games tallying 2 goals,
& 13 assists in that span.
Nathan Todd would give the 67's a 2-0 lead midway through the second period. After taking a Lintuniemi-hard shot to the back of the knee, Todd toughed through it and stayed in front of the net. Todd deflected a Konency point shot and batted the puck out of the air for his 4th goal in just 3 games.
The Petes finally found a way to solve Leo Lazarev in the 67's net. Josh MacDonald picked up a huge rebound off the Petes' crossbar and jet down the ice leading to an odd man rush. MacDonald fooled Lintuniemi cleanly with a pass between his legs and then beat Lazarev on the backhand for his team leading 23rd of the season cutting the 67's lead in half.
Early in the third, Konecny netted his 21st of the season after finding open ice in front of the net and intercepting a shot from the point. Konecny displayed his quick hands by dekeing the Dylan Wells and sliding it through his five hole to regain the 67's 2-goal lead.
Petes' Michael Clarke went down to the ice hard after blocking a shot midway through the second period. Capitalizing with a player down in neutral zone, Alex Lintuniemi gave the 67's a commanding 3-goal lead.
Shortly after the goal, Liam Herbst replaced Lazarev for the remainder of the third period due to an undisclosed reason. Herbst only let in one shot in which he was screened heavily in front. Combined, the two goaltenders posted 35 saves on the night.
"He was really good for us tonight. He's been good for us all year when he's needed to be," said Konecny who contributed to all 4 goals tonight. "But Herbst came in and pulled through for the rest of the third period."
The win gives the 67's points in 7-straight games and they are now only one point back of the North Bay Battalion for third in the Eastern Conference (NB has two games in hand).
"Every game is a playoff game. We have to be prepared. We have to keep it even keel and make sure playing the same way consistently into the playoffs," said Konency hoping to keep rising in the standings.
The 67's are now 2-0-0-0 on the weekend and head back to Ottawa to face Connor McDavid & the Erie Otters in less then 17 hours. The game has been sold out for the last couple of weeks.
"It's going to be awesome," said Konecny. "We have great fans, so when the house is packed, it's going to be a lot of fun. Having a big crowd always helps the home team."
The 67's will have a tough test. While they proved they can skate and compete with the best team in the country (Oshawa Generals) earlier this week, the Erie Otters have more elite fire power and will have fresh legs as they were idle tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment