67's Playoffs Hopes Stung In Sarnia

The Ottawa 67’s let a golden opportunity slip away as they were blown out 6-1 by last-place Sarnia in a highly uninspired effort on Saturday night.

With the loss, and a 4-1 Niagara win over North Bay, the 67’s fall out of the top-eight in the conference and likely won’t have a better chance to gain ground.

In a flat first period, Nickolas Latta opened the scoring for the home side in a period where Ottawa only had two shots on goal.  Davis Brown gave Sarnia a two-goal advantage midway through the second.

After the goal, Brendan Bell inched closer to suspension with his ninth fight of the year against Joshua Chapman.

It looked as though the scrap may have lit a fire under the Barberpoles, as Tyler Hill narrowly missed on a 2-on-1 with Travis Konecny before drawing a penalty.

On the ensuing powerplay, Jake Middleton misplayed a bounce off the boards, sending Brandon Lindberg on a breakaway, scoring to put the game mostly out of reach.

Noah Bushnell scored early in the third while Anthony DeAngelo scored two more for a Sarnia squad that only dressed 15 skaters.

John Urbanic ruined Brodie Barrick’s shutout bid with six seconds remaining. Philippe Trudeau made 24 saves in his 30th defeat of the season.

Ottawa’s one positive is that they have a game in hand on all the teams surrounding them in the standings, with a matchup tomorrow against another Western bottom-feeder in Kitchener.

Game sheet here.