General disappointment for 67's in 2-1 loss to Oshawa

In their second-to-last meeting of the regular season, the visiting 67’s fell 2-1 to the Oshawa Generals in overtime Sunday evening.

Oshawa captain Anthony Cirelli beat 67’s goalie Leo Lazarev just 24 seconds into overtime, giving the Generals their first win against the 67’s in seven games so far this season.

Cirelli had been controlling the play for a few seconds, moving swiftly around and then past Nathan Todd before skating up to the net and flicking the puck past Lazarev.

But Lazarev’s 31-save performance still earned him second star of the game.

The 67’s struggled offensively, with 11 fewer shots than the Generals, testing Jeremy Brodeur 22 times throughout the night, beating him only once.

With Domenic Commisso and Jalen Smereck in the box, leaving the Generals down two men, Todd blasted a shot past Brodeur from the right face-off circle.

Assists went to Evan de Haan and Dante Salituro, tying the game at 1 before the end of the second.

The Generals’ win wasn’t the only first celebrated at the General Motors Centre on Sunday. 

Seventeen-year-old forward Brock Welsh – playing in just his sixth game – scored his first OHL-career goal 4:14 into the second period. The goal put the Generals on the board first.

The 67’s now sit in sixth place in the OHL’s Eastern conference, with 61 points. The Generals are two spots and 12 points back, tied with the Hamilton Bulldogs at 49 points, fighting for the eighth playoff spot.

The two teams will face each other for their eighth match up on March 20th, the final game of the regular season for both teams. The game will be played at the General Motors Centre in Oshawa.

The 67’s next game will be played tomorrow, February 22 at TD Place Arena at 7:00pm against the seventh place Niagara Ice Dogs. The game is a result of Saturday’s postponed game after a leaky roof caused unsafe ice conditions.

OSEG has announced fans’ Saturday tickets will be honoured at Monday’s game, and those who had tickets for Saturday’s matchup will also get to attend one other regular season game free of charge.

The game is an important one for Ottawa, with Niagara only one point behind in the standings.

The 67’s have 11 games remaining in the regular season, and currently boast a 29-25-3 record.