Ottawa 67s Fan Report: 67's defeat the Spitfires 8-4 in an unusual family reunion

Tonight's game marked an unusual family reunion for the Brown family. While Jeff Brown took his usual spot behind the Ottawa 67's bench, he saw his son, Logan, playing against for the Windsor Spitfires on the other side of the ice.

Travis Konecny tallied 4 points including 2 goals and 2 assists in the Ottawa 67’s big 8-4 win over the visiting Windsor Spitfires. The 67’s had twelve players reach the scoresheet tonight including 4 multi-point scorers.

“That’s been the key to our team all year. It’s different guys [scoring] every night. It’s been all four lines winning games for us and it was again tonight,” said 67’s head coach Jeff Brown."

Other than Konecny, Taylor Davis had his first 3-point night while rookie Travis Barron and former-Spitfire Sam Studnicka each had a pair of goals.

“I was pretty amped up for this one. Whenever a team trades you away, you want to stick it to them,” said a content Sam Studnicka."

Leo Lazarev made his 13^th start in just 14 games. Liam Herbst has been sidelined with an upper body injury but was able to back up Lazarev tonight. Lazarev earned his 10^th win of the season stopping 43 of 47 shots.

“Forty-seven shots against is not something that I am very proud of but it’s one of those games where it was back and forth an all-around but we got to be happy about the win,” said Brown."

The 67’s didn’t start as they would have liked. They didn’t register a shot until the 5 minute mark of the opening frame, but that didn’t stop them from drawing first blood. Sam Studnicka knocked in a huge rebound off of Curtis Meighan’s original shot to give the 67’s an early 1-0 lead. Meighan picked up his first point as a 67 while Mike Vlajkov earned his first point since being sidelined with a lower body injury in September 2013.

Following the goal, Ottawa dictated the majority of the play not allowing Windsor to set up or contain pressure in the zone. It wasn’t until the 12:30 mark that the Spitfires would get another shot on net. At that point, Leo Lazarev was forced to make a flurry of saves.

Newly acquired winger, Lukas Venuto finally found a way to beat Lazarev after catching an errant rebound in front of the net tying the game at 1 in the first period.

The goals continued to come back and forth until Ottawa opened the floodgates in the second period. The 67’s scored 6 huge goals in the middle frame including 5 unanswered goals in a span of 8:32 to close out the second period with a commanding 7-2 lead.

The 67’s 5^th goal was scored by Travis Konecny who was awarded a penalty shot after being tripped up from behind on a breakaway. Konecny is starting on another roll with 6 points in his last two games.

After allowing 7 goals on 30 shots, Alex Fotinos was given a rest while Brendan Johnston came into the game in relief. Fotinos started the game out shaky not being able to control his rebounds, but as the game went on, he did not get any help from his teammates with several offensive and defensive break downs along with lack of discipline.

Perhaps it lit a fire under the team as they attempted to make a comeback. The Spitfires only allowed 6 shots on net in the third period. Hayden McCool and Lukas Venuto gave the Spitfires more life and suddenly it was 7-4 with just over 12 minutes remaining in the game.

The Spitfires thought they caught a break when Mike Vlajkov was slapped with a questionable 5-minute match penalty for a slewfoot on Sam Povorozniouk. They were unable to capitalize and Konecny sealed the win with a short-handed empty net goal and his second of the game.

Jeff Brown's team won while Logan Brown was held off the scoresheet and wasn't as effective in tonight's game. Like any father, Brown wanted to see his son do well, but he also wanted to see his team do well.

“It was terrible. It was no fun. I didn’t enjoy it," said Brown who coached his son since he was little. "It’s so hard because you cheer so much for your son and here you are coaching against him. I hope he does well but doesn’t do well. I didn’t enjoy it at all to be honest."

The win combined with a Belleville Bulls loss gives the 67’s sole possession of the 4^th spot in the OHL’s Eastern Conference.

The 67’s are idle on Saturday but return to TD Place on Sunday afternoon where they will face the Kingston Frontenacs.

GAME NOTES: Travis Konecny was awarded the 67’s Hardest Working Player of the Month before the game … Trevor Murphy had an assist on Lukas Venuto’s first goal which extends his point streak to 6 games. He tallied a total of 12 points in the span … Curtis Meighan and Brandon Lukevic each scored their first point as an Ottawa 67 – both in their 67’s debut … The 67’s were depleted with injuries: Jacob Middleton (groin), Evan de Haan (hand), Jeremiah Addison (leg), Ryan Orban, Brendan Bell, Dylan McDonald … Logan Stanley appeared to elbow Trent Mallette in the head, there was no call nor injury on the play, but it will likely be reviewed by the league.

Scoresheet here.

Three Stars as selected by TSN1200: