After a disappointing loss in Barrie last night, Ottawa got
off to a good start in the opening frame.
Capitalizing off a Bryson
Cianfrone giveaway, Dante Salituro
tallied his 17th goal of the season. Both
teams continued to battle while both Philippe
Trudeau and Spencer Martin stood
on their heads to give their teams some confidence. A good road period for the 67’s who led 1-0 after
the first period.
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| Ryan Van Stralen battles for the puck in front of the net during last game in Ottawa. |
"We're doing well. We're working hard. It's good to be up a goal
already from Dante Salituro, it was a nice shot. That line is working hard. I think it's a good group effort so
far tonight, we just have to keep it up," Travis Konecny to Rogers TV in the first intermission.
And keep it up they did.
Building off momentum from the first period, the 67’s came out strong in
the second. Brendan Bell gave the 67’s a
two goal lead 46 seconds into the period after a nice wraparound pass from Salituro
found him in the slot. The 67’s dictated
the play until the Steelheads finally solved Trudeau, who had been perfect up
until this point, at the 4:45 mark.
Redemption from the first goal allowed, Cianfrone fed a nice
between-the-legs back pass to Josh Burnside in the slot. After catching a piece of it with his stick, the
puck trickled past Trudeau. The
Steelheads took advantage of Trudeau playing with a defenseman’s stick and cut
the lead in half.
After the first goal, it was all Mississauga in the second
period. The 67’s got caught up in more
penalty trouble which also helped shift the momentum to the Steelheads. Trudeau made several key saves to keep the 67’s
one goal lead.
After getting robbed several times earlier in the game, Andrew Goldberg sent a bullet shot that
beat Trudeau from the hash marks to tie the game at 2 late in the second period.
“They were up 2-0 and we were a little flat on the bench.
Then the coach said we got to get something going there so all of us just got
together and worked hard that period, out shot them by a lot I think and good
that it's tied right now,” Cianfrone told Rogers in the second intermission.
The 67’s caught a break from the penalties in the third
period. Brandon Belding found Konecny with his head down and threw a big
body hit in the neutral zone. Getting
his elbow up at the last minute cost Belding a 5 and a game. Belding just returned to the lineup after serving
a two-game suspension for instigating a fight in last 5 minutes on Feb 2nd.
Jonathan Duchesne
jumped in for his teammate and earned an instigator cutting the 67’s powerplay
to three minutes. The 67’s did a great
job keeping the puck in the offensive zone, but the Steelheads were able to
limit them to one shot with seconds left in the powerplay. Unfortunately for them, that’s all Ottawa
needed. Travis Konecny scored a
highlight reel goal dekeing the defensemen and goaltender to give the 67’s a
big 3-2 lead.
The goal deflated the Steelheads and they were unable to
recover. Alex Lintuniemi added an empty net goal to round out the scoring
and seal the 4-2 victory.
"This is one of the biggest games for us this year, if
not the biggest game. These guys are right in front of us so it's a big game
for us to get these two points and start moving ahead in the standings, "
said Travis Konecny whose goal extended his point streak to five games.
It’s a huge win for Ottawa who moves one point behind
Niagara playoff positioning. The win
also closes the gap on Mississauga who is currently sitting 4 points ahead in
7th place; Ottawa with two games in hand.
The 67’s close out their 4-game roadtrip with two more
important games against division rivals, Belleville on Wednesday and Oshawa on
Friday, before heading back home to host the Owen Sound Attack on Family Day.
Game sheet here.
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