They needed a shootout to do it, but the Ottawa 67's lead the Eastern Conference after knocking off the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors 4-3 on Friday night at the J. Benson Cartage Centre.
Once again, Ottawa relied heavily on their top line of Shane Prince, Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli to put the puck in the net.
Coach Chris Byrne also gave the trio the nod in the shootout. Mississauga’s JP Anderson stopped Prince and Toffoli before Monahan buried a low wrist shot in the back of the net.
Petr Mrazek stopped attempts from Mississauga forwards Derek Schoenmakers, Jordan Mayer and top scorer Riley Brace to preserve the win.
Those weren’t the only penalty shots Mrazek had to face on the night, either.
In the second period, Cody Ceci hauled down Majors’ Russian rookie Sergey Kuptsov on a breakaway, leading to a penalty shot. Mrazek stopped the attempt, and had some words and a light tap for the import sniper who had run into Mrazek earlier in the frame.
Kupstov was called for goaltender interference at 11:02 of the second, causing one of three powerplays that Ottawa couldn’t convert on.
Ottawa’s top line would strike three times at even strength, however. Prince, who had four assists Thursday night, added another three helpers Friday.
At 11:33 of the first period, with Mississauga already up 1-0, Prince sent Toffoli in on a break where he placed a wrist shot top corner past Anderson.
Right before the end of the opening period, Prince took a pass across the line from Jake Cardwell, fed it over to Sean Monahan who finished it off to put Ottawa ahead.
Unlike Ottawa, Mississauga scored a pair of powerplay markers to tie the game and then gain the advantage back.
Just prior to Kuptsov’s penalty shot, Schoenmakers slid a backhander under Mrazek with Taylor Fielding in the box. And less than two minutes into the third, St. Mike’s Captain Jamie Wise beat Mrazek with another low shot. Sean Callaghan was in the box for the go-ahead tally.
With 8:40 left in regulation, Prince’s attempted centering pass for Monahan missed and found Toffoli, who roofed the tying goal, his second of the night and league-leading 13th. Monahan is tied for second in the league with his 12th of the year tonight.
Dylan DeMelo had the first goal of the game for the Majors, who fall to 9-3-0-2 and second in the Eastern Conference. The second place Brampton Battalion only trail behind by two points.
Despite icing the puck numerous times in the first period, and being hemmed in their own end for a few shifts in the third, Ottawa heavily outshot the Majors 43-26. With the win, they improve to 10-3-1-0.
Before the game, Monahan, Toffoli, Dalton Smith and Tyler Graovac (out with the flu) were honoured after being named to the OHL All-Star team. Mississauga’s JP Anderson, Riley Brace and Stu Percy (out with leg injury) were also honoured.
Announced attendance was 5, 671.
The 67’s next game will be in Belleville this Wednesday. They return home on Friday the 4th as they host the Owen Sound Attack.
Click here for the game sheet.
October 27 @ Peterborough
Tyler Toffoli’s 3rd goal of the game and 11th of the season gave Ottawa a 6-5 overtime win on Thursday night.
Toffoli also scored the first two Ottawa goals, at 5:46 and 13:55 of the first period respectively.
Just 42 seconds into the extra frame, the Ottawa sniper took a perfect pass from Cody Ceci and buried the puck past Peterborough’s Andrew D’Agostini, following up on the goal with a Jaromir Jagr-style salute.
Ceci also pitched in with a second period powerplay goal of his own, his 5th of the season and 3rd in as many games. Steven Janes and Sean Monahan scored in the second period as well. Monahan is tied with Toffoli and five others for second in OHL goal scoring with 11.
Shane Prince was all over the ice and the scoresheet, putting up four assists in the winning effort.
Peterborough got a pair of goals from Lino Martschini. Dylan Fitze, Stephen Nosad and Slater Koekkoek, born in the Ottawa area, rounded out the scoring for the Petes.
Despite outshooting Ottawa 44-36, Peterborough lost their fifth straight and fall to 6-5-2-1. With the one point, they move ahead of the Belleville Bells into second place in the East Division, four points behind Ottawa (the 67’s having played one less game).
Thursday night’s game also marked power forward Dalton Smith’s return to the lineup after serving his 10-game suspension. Unfortunately, he was held off the scoresheet in his October debut.
Tyler Graovac (flu) and Marc Anthony Zanetti (foot) missed the game. Graovac
These two divisional rivals don’t play again until December 3rd. Ottawa leads the season series 2-0 after a 5-1 win on October 7th.
Pictures from the Game:
Click here to see more pictures.
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