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November 27, 2015

Lazarev with 27 saves in 67's 4-1 win over Sting

After spending the last two weeks on the road, the Ottawa 67’s returned home to face the Sarnia Sting. Obtaining 8 of a possible 10 points on the road, the 67’s found themselves just 1-point back of the Kingston Frontenacs for first in the East Division.

Travis Konecny had a goal and an assist while Jeremiah Addison added two helpers to lead the 67’s to a 4-1 victory over the Sting in front of a home crowd of 5,304 boisterous fans. With Kingston winning tonight, the 67’s remain 1 point back of first in the division, but with Barrie losing tonight, they are also 1 point back of first in the conference.


Leo Lazarev who earned his 7th start in 9 games, continued his strong play into tonight’s game. He stopped 27 of 28 shots fired his way including a massive save on Jordan Kyrou early in the opening frame.

“I don't know if were at that stage but he's been dynamite. Herbst hasn't been bad, it's just (Lazarev) has been better,” 67’s head coach Jeff Brown responded when asked if Lazarev has become the number 1 goalie. “We're going to ride the hot hand.”

The 67’s played two strong periods and looked to be in full control of the game. Travis Konecny opened the scoring on a partial break with Jeremiah Addison while Sam Studnicka knocked in a big rebound after Sarnia netminder Justin Fazio made a huge stop on Dante Salituro. The 67’s had a 2-0 lead after the first 20 minutes.

Pavel Zacha scored the lone goal for the Sting after the 67’s got caught on a poor line change. The two goal lead was restored by Austen Keating who tallied his 5th goal of the season. Konecny and Addison picked up their second point on that goal.

“Playing with [Konecny and Todd], you basically have to score that because they’re such great players that you can’t miss that.” said Keating.

Trent Mallette rounded out the scoring with an empty net goal in the third period to seal the win. That goal extended Mallette’s point streak to 7 games where he accumulated 6 goals and 2 assists in that time frame. Half of the goals Mallette scored were empty net goals which garnered a bit of fun ribbing from his teammates

“He's a workhorse for us and we'd be lost without him. He works extremely hard, he kills penalties, blocks shots, gets the puck out & is on the ice at the end of the game,” clarified Brown. “So it says a lot about him and his character and what the coaching staff thinks of him.”

Despite a 4-1 win, coach Brown was not extremely happy with the effort his team put forth, specifically in the third period.

“You get a two-goal lead in the third period and we just gave them opportunities that a good team doesn't give up,” explained Brown. “There was a stretch last year where we had a two-goal lead in the third period and we felt pretty confident. This year has been that way, we're hanging on and we got to tidy things up.”

Coach feels his team isn’t doing the little things and simple plays right. He believes it’s just mental mistakes that need to be worked on through the course of this season.
The 67’s have a quick turnaround as they are back at TD Place tomorrow afternoon to host the struggling Guelph Storm at 1pm.

Game summary here


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