Graovac adds two more as 67’s spank Greyhounds 6-1

Soo Greyhounds defenseman Matt Fuller scored his second goal of the season after catching Keegan Wilson well out of position in the net. Fuller made no mistake but to bury the puck to give the Greyhounds an early 1-0 lead. 

However, that lead would be short lived.  Steven Janes snapped a shot from the high faceoff circle and in the net past Matt Murray.  This was the first of six unanswered 67’s goals on the night. 

The Greyhounds found themselves in some penalty trouble early in the second period taking two costly back to back penalties.  With 40 seconds left in the powerplay, Dante Salituro centred a shot to Jake Cardwell in the high slot.  Cardwell fired the puck past Murray beating him high blocker side.  Back on the powerplay after a delayed call, the 67’s took advantage of another great opportunity.  Remy Giftopoulous tapped in an errant rebound right on the door step to give the 67’s a 2 goal cushion.

The 67’s would add another goal before the end of the second period.  Ryan Van Stralen grabbed a Steven Janes rebound and squeezed the puck under the pads of Murray.  The goal ultimately chased him from the net while Justin Nichols came into the game in relief. 

Not much more luck for Nichols as Tyler Graovac added two goals in the third period.  Off a great lead pass from Cody Ceci, Graovac streaked down the ice on a breakaway and beat Nichols five hole with a beautiful backhanded shot. He added his second goal on the powerplay to close out the scoring at 6-1.

The Ottawa 67’s travel up highway 17 to faceoff against the Sudbury Wolves at 7:05pm tomorrow night.  You can catch the game on the Team 1200 and Rogers Cable 22.

The good:  The 67’s powerplay continues to click as they scored on 3 of their 4 man advantages.  Tyler Graovac’s two goals puts him back in first place overall for goals scored in the OHL.

The bad:  Soo goaltender Matt Murray was pulled after allowing 4 goals on 19 shots.  Many of which he had no chance on.

The ugly:  Chris Buonomo was slapped with a 5 minute major and a game misconduct for “checking to the head” after leaving the ice with his foream and connecting to the head of rookie Connor Brown.  With 3 defensemen already out of the Greyhounds lineup, the team might have to look for some extra help on the already depleted backend.