A Toque-Trick for Lindsay For the Win

Timing is everything and three goals at home on a toque-giveaway night was good timing for Cody as many fans celebrated his accomplishment by throwing their Home Depot toques on the ice.

The Barrie Colts fought back from a 3-goals deficit to make it a 1-goal game for a while but the 67's prevailed for a 7 - 4 win.

Click here for the game sheet.

With Shane Prince out of the line-up (shoulder) and Jon Carnevale returning, the lines looked a bit different. Dalton Smith moved up to the top line and Sean Monahan centred Lindsday and Nesbitt.

Dalton Smith got his team on the board first with a goal just 39 seconds into the game with his drive to the net and a nice tip of a pass from Ryan Martindale. But it was Cody Lindsay who restored the Ottawa lead in the first period and went on to give his team a couple of insurance goals in the third period resulting from hard work and good timing.

After Norm Ezekiel tied up the game going top shelf on Shayne Campbell, Cody Lindsay gave Ottawa the lead as he popped in a loose puck from a goal-mouth scramble.

Up 3 - 1 going into the second period on Ryan Martindale's 27th goal of the season and having out shot Barrie 20 - 8 in the first frame, the Ottawa 67's let Barrie carry the play for the first half of the period. For a good portion of the period, neither team created any scoring chances with a lot of the play taking place between the blue lines it seemed.

Sean Monahan got the scoring started with an unassisted bullet from the hashmarks that beat Clint Windsor top shelf to make it 4 - 1. But with a goal late in the period from Trent Hawk and another early in the third from Steven Beyers, the 67'w were toying with another late-game melt-down.

With last Sunday's collapse hopefully still in burning in their guts, the 67's started to play again and take over the game. Tyler Toffoli gave Ottawa some breathing room on their only PPG of the game as he snapped it past Windsor from the slot.

Ottawa went up 6 - 3 when Sean Monahan drove the net in a slick move on the defender. Nesbitt picked up the rebound, fed it to Lindsay who popped it in for his second goal.

Barrie's top scorer Colin Brehenna got his team back within two with 4 minutes to play but Cody's wrap-around goal for the toquie put it out of reach.

So after giving the fans, the coaches and themselves another scare, the 67's beat the last place team in the league 7 - 4.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Dalton Smith

Random Thoughts:

• Shayne Campbell was in net for only his 7th start of the season and perhaps only his second or third start at home.
  
• The Barrie Colts made Ottawa work for this win. Any team can beat any other team on any given night. With Oshawa just 4 points behind and for the Divisional lead and 1 game in hand, Ottawa cannot afford to take any shift off, much less take any team lightly.
  
• Good to see points spread around the roster a bit: goals from Smith, Lindsay, Martindale and Toffoli; assists from Toffoli (2), Martindale (2), Monahan (3), Zanetti, Gibbons and Nesbitt.
  
• Ottawa went 1/5 on the PP against the weakest PK in the league.
  
• Thomas Nesbitt and Dalton Smith teamed up on a crucial penalty kill in the third as they kept the puck in Barrie's zone for a long stretch, running down the time.

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