Ottawa 67s Fan Report: Early-Third Powerplay Goal Sinks 67's Again

The Ottawa 67’s put in a hard-fought effort against the Plymouth Whalers on Sunday, but for the second time in as many days, the Barberpoles were hampered by penalties, dropping their seventh straight decision 3-2.
Ottawa conceded five man advantages and a penalty shot to the Whalers. Rickard Rakell scored on his first-period penalty shot while Ryan Hartman had the winning goal early in the third period on the powerplay.

"We've got to find ways to win games here," said a visibly frustrated Chris Byrne about this 67's team that hasn't won at some since mid-October. "It's a tough thing when you're not winning at home."

Before Rakell’s goal, which was also a shorthanded marker, Ryan Van Stralen scored on the powerplay to begin the annual Teddy Bear Toss. After the ice was cleaned up, however, the energy was taken out of the crowd as Plymouth headed to a powerplay less than a minute after the opening goal.

The two teams traded goals in the middle frame. Matthew Mistele gave the visitors their first lead of the afternoon and Steven Janes answered with Ottawa’s second powerplay tally on the day.

For the second game in a row, however, a 2-2 deadlock was broken by an early third-period powerplay goal against for the 67’s. Ottawa was unable to tie the game despite outshooting Plymouth 11-6 in the final period.

Clint Windsor made 32 saves in his third start with the 67's. "Both goalies played very well in the two games over the weekend," added Byrne. Meanwhile, Matt Mahalak made 31 stops for Plymouth.

Click here to see the game sheet.

Ottawa (6-15-0-2) takes on the Kingston Frontenacs on Tuesday at Scotiabank Place before embarking on a lengthy roadtrip that starts in Oshawa on Friday.

Assorted Notes:

While the 67's upcoming road trip might not be the worst thing given their struggles on home ice, Byrne wants his team to keep a game-to-game focus. "We're going to have to get at it Tuesday night. It's a team that's ahead of us in the standings that we want to catch so we'll have to come up with a great effort. We're looking at Tuesday's game, and anything after that, we'll worry about after Tuesday."
Brett Gustavsen was full of energy in today's game, but it got him in a bit of trouble. He was in the penalty box when the winning goal was scored, and was assessed a ten-minute misconduct, along with Austin Levi of the Whalers, in the final minutes of the game. Those two also went at one another at the end of the first period.
Hopefully Plymouth Captain Colin MacDonald is okay after being sent awkwardly face-first into the boards by Sean Monahan late in the game. He stayed down for a couple of minutes before leaving the ice. The ensuing scrum got Levi and Gustavsen their respective misconducts.
Senators 2011 first-round draft pick Stefan Noesen may have been a selling point for this game, but as it turns out, he was out of the lineup after being injured in Belleville last night.
There was a good attendance for the Teddy Bear Toss and it went off well as it normally does. The in-game audio crew did their best to keep as much energy and momentum in the building as possible while the stuffed animals were picked up.

Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200

Hardest Working 67's as Selected by the Team1200: Ryan Van Stralen

Random Thoughts from Behind the Lens:

Another great effort by the team. Yes it's another loss but there were some really good things happening on the ice for me: good defensive play in front of the goalie, they had scoring chances, they played a full 60 minutes... lots of things to build on. Plymouth is a stacked team: 9 NHL drafted players (8 of which dressed). Ottawa has 2 and once again iced 7 rookies who all saw serious ice time. Take care of the little stuff and the big stuff will happen.
Saw some hard work out there - one that sticks in my memory is Remy Giftopolous late in the second with serious effort on the far boards to break up the Plymouth play as they moved up ice.
Plymouth had some long stretches of possession in the second. Clint kept them in the game as the shots mounted up. Nice work.
Again, lots of scouts in the house. In a chat with one scout it was noted that the the 67's rookies are not getting the opportunity to ease into their OHL careers. It's baptism by fire. Kilrea was quoted as saying there are no rookies after Christmas. Well, this year, there are no rookies before Christmas either. This happened to Cody Ceci his first year and see where it got him!
Ottawa Senators brass were out in full force; Cyril Leeder, head coach Paul MacLean, head of player development Randy Lee and assistant coach Dave Campbell. Rather than seeing Noesen play, they spent the game chatting with him.
Belated congratulations (and happy birthday) to Dante Salituro for being selected to Team Ontario for the 2013 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. I am unable to confirm it but Jonathan Duchense may have also been selected as an alternate. Congrats to both; I'm sure they will represent the province and their team well.

Some pictures from the game: