Whoo Hoo! Ottawa over the Petes: 4 - 3

For those who watched or listened to Monday’s game, you may have had some serious doubts about whether this series was about to enter its death throes. Well I guess not. On to a quick summary; the 5AM alarm gets here real quick.

Tonight’s scratches for Ottawa: Brent Mackie, Aaron Alphonso and Elgin Reid

First Period: Ottawa dominated the beginning of this period right from the get-go starting with 4 shots on goal within the first two minutes. The Petes couldn’t get anything going and ended up just dumping the puck into the Ottawa zone from the neutral zone. We got signs of what was going to be a bad night of refereeing when Ottawa was called early for icing when the puck actually went off a Peterborough player. Two refs and two linsemen and none of them could see what happened. Sheesh! After trading a couple of penalties, Ottawa got a 5 on 3 for about 30 seconds by my reckoning (didn’t make a note of the time) with Liam Reddox and Scott Cowie both off for hooking in separate penalties. Julian Talbot seriously redeemed himself from the spearing suspension by getting the first goal of the game off a rebound. Matt Lahey and Logan Couture assisted on the goal. The goal was recorded as being scored just after Scott Cowie’s penalty expired so the goal actually retired the Reddox penalty and play was back to even. Ottawa started struggling a little bit, getting sloppy and not clearing the puck out of their own zone. Peterborough was able to even up the score at 16:03 of the frame on a power play goal by Jordan Staal while Brent Liscomb was serving time for a hooking call. Liam Reddox and Trevor Hendrikx got the assists.

The period ended with the score tied at 1 with Ottawa leading shots on goal 19 – 8 (the score sheet says 19 – 8 saves but I wrote down what was on the clock in the arena).

Second Period: Ottawa started the period on the power play as Patrick Kaleta was not quite halfway through his hooking penalty called late in the first period. I didn’t note the time (paying too much attention to what was happening rather than taking notes) but very early in the period Logan Couture was hauled down on a breakaway to the net – penalty shot awarded!! Just like Saturday – everyone (well, all the Ottawa fans anyway) was really excited. Logan picked up the puck at centre ice, skated in on Schantz and tried to wrist one into the upper left corner. Not sure whether Schantz actually got some leather on it or whether Logan missed altogether but the result was no goal. It seemed to me that the 67s kinda deflated a bit here. Robbie Lawrance seemed to be having trouble readjusting to his defensive role and while he was serving his second penalty of the period, the Petes went ahead when Trevor Hendrikx (??) fired one from between the face off circles that went high over the net and bounced off the glass right on to the stick of Jordan Staal who put it in the net while Danny was trying to find the puck. He didn’t stand a chance. Jordan Morrison also got an assist. Then, a mere 30 seconds, at even strength, the Petes went up by 2 again on a rebound that went right onto the stick of Patrick Kaleta who had a wide open net. Justin Caruana and Daniel Ryder got the assists. This was not looking good – not at all. Well, I shouldn’t have worried. With Justin Caruana in the sin bin for holding, Joe Grimaldi made a nice behind the back from the neutral zone to Matt Lahey that caught the Petes going against the flow. Matt fired a long shot at Schantz who let a big rebound go right to Jamie McGinn who made no mistake – we’re back in this game! Before the period was over, Logan Couture evened it up with a sharp angle shot that was deflected off someone (must have been a Peterborough player as it was recorded as an unassisted goal). By now Ottawa had picked up its play and the Petes were getting frustrated and managed to end the period by setting themselves up for a 5 on 3 disadvantage to start the second period. Liam Reddox went off first for hooking followed by Daniel Ryder for slashing.

At the end of the second period the score was tied at 3 with Ottawa still leading shots on goal with 29 to 21.

Third Period: With the two man advantage for well over a minute, I (and pretty much everyone else I imagine) expected Ottawa to take the lead and they didn’t disappoint. Joe Grimaldi got what turned out to be the game winner with a shot from the point. Logan Couture and Julian Talbot got the assists. Then Ottawa just poured on the forecheck to keep the Petes penned in their own zone for most of the period. The Petes really couldn’t get much going at even strength but had a huge chance for a short handed goal while Joe was off for interference. Somehow Downie got behind the Ottawa defense and took a great long pass from Staal (??) and had a great breakaway on Danny. Danny came out to challenge, backed up as Downie drove in, followed him to the corner and made a great save!! I agree with the Team 1200 guys – it was the play of the game! And that’s all she wrote. The Petes really couldn’t put anything together and managed to earn themselves a few 10 minute misconducts for chirping off. Aaron Dawson earned one at the 16:296 mark when he vociferously disagreed with the roughing call he had been assessed. Downie and Tardiff each earned 10 minute misconducts at the end of the game – not sure what the value is in that.

Final score: 4 - 3 for Ottawa with shots on goal 49 – 30 for Ottawa

Thoughts: Another solid performance by Ottawa tonight for most of the night. They had a few miscues (this is junior hockey after all) and had bouts of trouble getting the puck out of their zone but they played really well in front of Danny and worked their butts off. Tibor Radulay got out there and worked the boards, blocked shots, and made himself dangerous at times. Joe showed again why he has been such a good addition to the team. Kiriakou won a ton of face offs. They boys played physical and perhaps surprised the Petes a tad. All this without Elgin and with a number of the guys reportedly somewhat under the weather with colds or flu-like symptoms.

It is so great to see the effort when behind a couple of goals. This has to be really energizing for our guys and more than a tad frustrating for the Petes. I don’t know where to confirm the information but I understand that the Petes have something like 10 players who have already been drafted by the NHL. To my recollection, we have only 1 drafted player on our roster (Derek Joslin drafted by San Jose). It just goes to show ya that the stuff on paper means nothin’on the ice.

The boys now go to Peterborough with some great momentum and a full, and hopefully healthy, lineup. Twice now they have come from behind with some solid effort to win the game. They can do this on the road and Friday’s the day to do it. We can’t make it to the game but really hope those who are traveling down are seriously entertained with good hockey and a win!

Three Stars of the Game:
First Star: Logan Couture (1 goal and 2 assists)
Second Star: Joe Grimaldi (goal and an assist)
Third Star: Jordan Staal (2 goals)

Hardest Working 67: Thomas Kiriakou (and well deserved I might add)

See everyone on Sunday!

Cheers!