After being pulled after the 5th goal in a 5-2 loss
against the Belleville Bulls in Ottawa last night, Philippe Trudeau had his own
redemption tonight. Trudeau turned aside
46 of 47 Bulls’ shots in a 2-1 regulation victory; a game featuring two teams battling
to make the playoffs.
Losing an important game last night, the 67’s were on a
mission and drew first blood. Ryan Van Stralen
jumped on a Justin Lemcke turnover in front of the net. He made no mistake and fired his team leading
19th goal of the season past Charlie Graham in the Bulls’ net.
The 67’s ran into some penalty trouble in the opening
frame, but killed off four straight Bulls’ powerplays with much thanks to 14
saves by Trudeau.
While it was a great road period for the 67’s, they had
learnt from their mistakes last game.
The 67’s were up 3-2 and gave up four straight Bulls’ goals in a span of
a 2:39 minutes.
The Bulls continued their surge into the second period,
but Trudeau kept coming up big. With
Andrew Ming in the box for charging, Jacob Middleton converted on a crisp-no-look
pass from Travis Konecny to it 2-0 late in the second.
Perhaps Brett Gustavsen was onto something during his
first period TV Cogeco interview, “We’ve got a really good skating team. Guys
like Konency, Salituro and Middleton can really get up there in the rush
and create prime scoring opportunities especially on the power play, there’s a
lot of open ice out there.”
The Bulls were finally able to solve Trudeau early in the
third period. 2014 NHL draft eligible,
David Tomasek cut the lead in half, but Trudeau was able to shut them down the
rest of the game.
“It hasn’t changed with Trudeau all season, he’s been the
man back there and he’s been really helping us through this year. I think a lot of the wins are based on his
play and is playing well tonight and I know he’s going to keep it up for the
next 40,” Gustavsen also told TV Cogeco in the first intermission praising his
goaltender.
The win subtly helps the 67’s in the standings. The 67's are still sitting 9th in the East but
have narrow the gap for their chances to finish in 7th or 8th place. They are 2 points behind Niagara and
Mississauga but have one game in hand on Niagara and three games in hand on Mississauga.
“It’s a big push it’s almost like playoff hockey right
now. We’ve been through it before and we’re going to have to play like it. I think it’s going to be a long run, the next
26 games or so. We just have to keep playing our game every single night,”
explain Gustavsen who is on pace for his best season.
There is still a lot of important hockey down the stretch
including tomorrow afternoon when the Peterborough Petes roll into town.
The official game sheet can be found here.
Note-a-bull:
- Ryan Van Stralen leads the team in 19 goals, is tied with Travis Konecny for most points (41) and has surpassed his 2012-13 point total of 39 points in 61 games (currently has 41 in 43 games)
- The Belleville Bulls have not won back-to-back games yet this season
- For those keeping tally, it’s Trudeau and Harper are tied at 2 points each. Harper had a goal and an assist last night in a Bulls’ win, but Trudeau shut him out tonight in a 67’s win
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