With Petr Mrazek returning late Friday night and Malcolm Subban recovering from a groin injury, both teams were without their number one goaltender. Michael Nishi stole the show making 38 saves on the night while John Chartrand had a rougher night letting in 7 goals on 31 shots.
Shane Prince opened the scoring after picking the pocket of sophomore Dylan Corson along the halfboards and wristing it in the high slot past Chartrand. Under 1 minute later on the penalty kill, Tyler Toffoli made a great move to get past the Bulls’ defender and his shot just squeaked past the goaltender which seemed to rattle Chartrand.
Feeding off the tense goaltender, the 67’s would score two quick goals in the final minute of the first period after a series of unfortunate events for the Bulls. Smith picked up his first goal of the night after grabbing the rebound off Cody Ceci’s point shot. Moments later, Prince scored his second of the game off a turnover in the offensive zone.
The Bulls seemed to regroup in the second period and outshot the 67’s 17-10 for the 20 minutes. With Tyler Graovac off in the box for interference, Austen Brassard rifled a shot over the shoulder of Nishi blocker side to break the shutout bid and extend his goal scoring streak to 6 games and his point streak to 9 games.
In the third period, Alex Carnevale made a nifty move to deke the defender and goaltender to cut the 67’s lead in half. It looked as if the Bulls were making another comeback, but they could not generate any more offense.
Just over one minute later, the 67’s responded. Toffoli, Monahan and Smith combined in a beautiful tic-tac-toe play as Smith tipped the puck top corner and in the net to regain a 3 goal lead. The high flying 67’s offense was too much for the Bulls to handle as Smith and Ceci add one more each to round out the scoring.
Click here for the game sheet.
NEXT UP:
The 67’s will travel to Belleville for the second of the home-and-home series tonight at 7:05pm.
NOTES: Ottawa was 1 for 2 on the powerplay while Belleville went 1 for 3 … Tyler Toffoli jumps into first place overall in OHL goal scorers with 31 goals while Monahan moves into a tie in 5th with 23 goals … Austen Brassard extends his goal scoring streak to 6 games and his point streak to 9 games .… Adam Payerl’s point streak ends at 5 games after he was held scoreless … Joseph Cramarossa had an assist in his Bulls debut after being acquired from Mississauga … Ottawa acquired forward John McFarland from Saginaw in exchange for rookie forward David Perklin & a 4th round pick … Petr Mrazek flew into Ottawa late Friday night … Petr Mrazek and McFarland are expected to be in the lineup tonight.
Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens:
- Dalton Smith had a solid night - any it didn't involve punching anyone! He obviously scored - and scored often....but he was also hitting hard, battling through attempts knock him off the puck, standing his ground in front of the net and pressing hard in the offensive zone to regain possession. Great all around game for him.
- Tyler Toffoli was really distributing the puck - earning 4 assists in the process, and he was doing his share of pocket-picking as well. A good 5-point night for him.
- The Bulls had a goal in the last first period waived off as Payerl was called for goal tender interference.
- The 67's really backed off in the second period which allowed the Bulls to take over the play. But as soon as the Bulls scored their second goal, you could see the 67's step it up to regain control.
- Over-ager Daniel Broussard has been suspended for 8 games for using a banned substance. The OHL announcement states that it was in a supplement he was using. I chatted with Neil Hoch, the team athletic trainer about this last year when this happened to other OHL players. Teams speak with their players about this every year and provide assistance to ensure that players know what they are consuming. This was very avoidable.
Click here to see more pictures from the game.
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