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October 24, 2010

Ottawa Gets the Shoot-out Win

Unable to hang onto a 3-goal lead going into the third, it took Ottawa 67's captain Thomas Nesbitt as the 9th shooter and Petr Mrazek's save on Boone Jenner to bag the win. It was quite the nail biter.

The first period was a much better effort by the 67's this afternoon getting goals from Tyler Toffoli (unassisted) and Cody Ceci (assisted by Sean Monahan). With the rest of the team going for a line change, Tyler harassed Oshawa's Scott Valentine creating a turn over that he quickly flipped over the glove hand of Michael Zador.

Cody's goal was a blast from the point that beat Zador over the glove (again). After the first 20, the shots were even at 10 apiece.

Then things slowing started shifting in Oshawa's favour although it was Travis Gibbons who scored the only goal of the period, his first of the year. He picked off the top corner from near the hashmarks to give his team a three goal lead near the end of the second period. Thomas Nesbitt and Sean Monahan assisted. But despite the score, it was Oshawa that was pressing well and getting shots through. Ottawa didn't get their first shot through to Zador until 5:23 left in the period. They only had 3 shots for the entire period to Oshawa's 14.

The third started to look alot like the game on Friday. Oshawa took the game to Ottawa and had them on their heels. Under pressure, the 67's were unable to get back into the same form as the first period. They had difficulty breaking out and they could't sustain pressure in the Oshawa zone. As a result, the Oshawa Generals got goals from Berger (PPG), Laughton, and de Haan (PPG with the goalie pulled) to take the game to OT.

With nothing resolved in OT (and Ottawa getting its only PP of the game - hmmm), it was off to the shootout. Mrazek had been solid but with all the shots and traffic he had faced, did he have enough left in the tank?

Oh yeah! Ottawa shot first and it was Thomas Nesbitt, the 9th shooter who got any puck past either goalie. It was then up to Petr Mrazek to stop Boone Jenner to end the game - which he did - followed by much relief and celebration by his team and the Ottawa fans.

So Ottawa remains atop of the East Division by two points.

Click here for the game sheet.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200


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Hardest Working 67's as Selected by the Team1200: Petr Mrazek


Random Thoughts:
  • It will be difficult to keep winning if they don't start getting more shots on the net. 3 shots in each in the 2nd, 3rd and OT. Not nearly enough.
  • And it looks less and less likely that Shayne Campbell will get a start anytime soon with the team letting upwards of 30 shots through each game.
  • When Toffoli and Smith were on their game, they were very pesty - causing turnovers and making Oshawa's life a tad miserable.
  • From my angle, the late third period call on Toffoli was marginal at best. The refs were letting worse infractions go.
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Ceci's goal
Click here for more pictures from the game.

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