Toffoli Counter-Attack Results in Ottawa 6 - 4 Win Over Owen Sound

A 10 minute time-out for unsportsmanlike conduct late in the first gave Tyler Toffoli a ring-side seat as his team struggled to gain control over the 3rd-in-three visiting Owen Sound Attack. It also served as the motivation when he returned to the ice to spark his team to comeback from a 2-goal deficit and go on to beat Owen Sound 6 - 4.

Click here for the game sheet.

You would have been hard pressed to believe that the Owen Sound Attack were playing their third game in three days. They skated hard, fore-checked relentlessly and generally made it very hard for the 67's to get much going in the first period. The Attack went into the first intermission with a two goal lead on goals from Joey Hishon (with 4:21 left) and Liam Heelis just as the first period ended.

The second period saw 5 goals from both teams starting with Tyler Toffoli getting the first two to tie up the game with less than 4 minutes left to play. Cameron Brace capitalized on a Shane Prince turn over in the Ottawa zone and beat Mrazek to give Owen Sound the lead again with 1:32 left in the period. It would have been reasonable for most folks to think that this would be how the period ended.

Not the 67's however.

33 seconds after Brace's goal, Thomas Nesbitt had the game tied again and with 12 seconds left, Shane Prince made up for the turn-over goal by giving Ottawa the lead once again. He was so pumped by his goal, he wiped out on his way to the glove-tap with Mrazek. The 67's went into the second intermission with a one-goal lead having come back from a 2-goal and a 1-goal deficit during the period.

The Attack were still going strong to start the third and Ottawa was still having some troubles clearing their zone and maintaining control at times. But it was Ottawa that controlled the scoring. Adam Sedlak scored his second of the season (and Ottawa's second PP of the game) when his shot rung off the post and into the net. It stood up as the game winning goal.

Then Tyler Toffoli notched his hat trick, his third of the season, to give Ottawa a 6-3 lead. Jessie Blacker gave Owen Sound one final goal, a PPG that beat Mrazek with 18 seconds left.

So the Ottawa 67's end the weekend with a 3-game sweep and with Tyler Toffoli continuing his point streak. They now prepare for next weekend where they host the Windsor Spitfires, who have been busy leading up to the tomorrow's trade deadline.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Ryan Martindale
Random Thoughts:

• The Owen Sound Attack penalty kill was the strongest I've seen in a while. On at least two occasions the Attack had the better scoring chances while Ottawa had the man advantage. Ottawa finally got it figured out and scored a couple of PPGs.
  
• Finally saw some hats hit the ice for the hat trick. Nice to see fans paying attention and upholding the tradition.
  
• While Petr Mrazek's home-ice shut-out was ended, Tyler Toffoli continued his league-leading point streak - now up to 23 games. In that time he has scored 27 goals and 26 assists for 53 points. Tyler and Shane Prince stand 1 - 2 in the league for scoring with 75 and 74 points respectively in 41 games. Jeremy Akeson of the Kitchener Rangers is in third place with 68 points and 3 games in hand.
  
• Ottawa was still without the services of Carnevale, Fontana and Janes (all out with injuries) and Ottawa iced 11 forwards again with Fielding being the 11th forward. As the game went on, Byrnes worked with three lines, promoting Foglia to play with Monahan and Graovac.
  
• Assists came from Prince (3), Martindale (3), Gibbons (2), Ceci (2), Smith and Toffoli. The top line accounted for 11 of the 18 points credited to 67's players.
• With the trade deadline looming (January 10th) it will be interesting to see if Ottawa makes any moves. They could use another forward.

More Pictures: Click here to see more pictures from the game.