Ottawa 67s Fan Report: Cowick's 2 Goals Paces the 67's to a 6

The game didn't start so well for the 67's but they managed to take control and score 4 unanswered goals to win the game and take a 3 - 2 lead in the series.

Forward Combos:
Cowick, Nigro, Toffoli
Smith, Lindsay, Merrett (starters)
Prince, Martindale, Nesbitt
Janes, Graovac, Carnevale

D-pairs
Zanetti, Cuma (starters)
Demers, Gibbons
Hanes, Ceci

Goal: Mrazek

Scratches: Harwick, Foglia, Anderson

Tonight's post is going to be very short as morning gets here really quickly.

The game started very slowly with both teams pretty much skating around with no real intention of doing much. The Majors started controlling the play much more and, once again, scored the first goal of the game. This time it was off the stick of Devante Smith-Pelley (and I believe off the body of Zanetti) just 3 and a half minutes into the game.

Ryan Martindale got it back just 25 seconds into their PP 4 minutes later on Ottawa's first shot on goal of the game. Cody Ceci had the lone assist.

Greg Sutch restored the Major's lead shortly thereafter but it was short-lived as Corey Cowick tied it up again with a drive to the net to score despite being toppled himself. Anthony Nigro assisted on the goal.

But before the announcement was finished, Kelly Geoffrey scored what would turn out to be their last goal of the game to once again, take the lead.

At the end of the first period, it was 3 - 2 for the Majors with Ottawa being badly outshot 17 - 9.

Ottawa started coming to life in the second and with about 3 minutes left, Anthony Nigro notched his 6th goal of the playoffs to tie it up. His line mates Andrew Merrett and Corey Cowick were his helpers. For his part, Petr Mrazek made some awesome saves to keep his team in the game and Tyler Toffoli was unable to score on a beautiful breakaway when he was fed the puck as he jumped out of the penalty box. It would be the first of two golden opportunities that he couldn't bury.

The 67's started the third period on the PP and they came at the Majors very aggressively. They didn't score but they set the tempo for themselves and it paid off with that top line combining once again, this time to take the lead. This time it was Corey Cowick scoring the goal with Andrew Merrett and Anthony Nigro helping out. Goals from Cody Lindsay and Thomas Nesbitt gave Ottawa breathing room and made the Majors open up to try and get back into the game. Dalton Smith, Julien Demers and Tyler Cuma all got assists on those goals.

The 67's were able to recover from a not-so-good game on Tuesday and a not-so-good start today to get that important win at home and send the series back to Mississauga with the lead.

Here's the game sheet.

Three Stars as selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as selected by the Team1200: Anthony Nigro

Random Thoughts:

I listened to and watched a bit of the game on Tuesday and as I watched the start of this game I thought they were toast. Mississauga was simply not giving the 67's any room to get anything going. The 67's were lucky to get out of the first period down just one goal.
The back half of the game was an entirely different story. I think it was an entirely different team that returned to the ice. Someone said or did something to throw the switch on these guys.
10 of the 15 points handed out to Ottawa in the game came from 10 different players, although 8 of the points came from the line of Cowick-Nigro-Merrett. Watch for them to be played much closely on Saturday. That should give more opportunities to Lindsay, Toffoli and others.
I would not be surprised to see Carrozzi back in the net for Mississauga on Saturday.
The 67's have shown that they can skate, hit and score against the St Mike's Majors - they just need to do it one more time to get to the third round. Get 'er done on Saturday boys! (I have plans for Monday that I would prefer not to change.)

More Pictures: