Defying 'Murphy's Law'; 67's Snap Losing Streak

The adage that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong”, known as Murphy’s Law, seems to have summed up the first eight games of the Ottawa 67’s nine-game road trip, so it was fitting that it was Ryan Murphy and the Kitchener Rangers who were trying to continue the 67’s skid.  Murphy had several chances to win the game, but Ottawa prevailed 2-1 in a shootout.

Despite being double- and even triple-teamed by Ottawa’s defence at times during the day, the Kitchener Captain still managed to set up a number of late scoring chances to break the tie.  He also had the chance to win the game in the third round of the shootout, but was stopped by Clint Windsor.

Murphy’s chance came after Tyler Graovac and Remy Giftopoulos had been stopped.  Radek Faksa had the lone marker in the shootout, and Brent Pedersen had been stopped.  After Windsor kept the game alive, Cody Ceci scored to tie the shootout.  Matia Marcantuoni was also stopped, and Dante Salituro potted the game winner.

Windsor also made 36 saves in regulation to help Ottawa win for the first time since November 20.  Franky Palazzese made 23 saves for Kitchener.

Kitchener defenceman Cory Genovese scored his first goal of the year on a delayed Ottawa penalty to give the home side a 1-0 advantage late in the first period.  Although they were outshot 28-16 through two periods, Ottawa seemed to come to life with a powerplay goal from Steven Janes midway through the second as he beat Palazzese with a perfectly-placed slapshot.

The two teams only combined for 14 shots in a low-key, defencive-minded third period, and Ottawa had the only two shots in the extra frame.

The 67’s now head home to take on the Belleville Bulls on Wednesday and Peterborough on Friday.

The game sheet can be found here.

Assorted Notes:

• To try and contain Murphy, the 67's employed a 1-4 style defence with four and sometimes five guys back in their own neutral zone.  It kept him honest at times, but the 1-4 defence doesn't give defenders an excuse to stop moving their feet.  Unfortunately, Ottawa got burned on that a few times today.
• Doug Harvey was the most impressive of the callups on the final game of the weekend.  He's a gritty player that cycles the puck well.  It was good to see him get ice time at crucial times in the third period.
• The 67's road from here doesn't get easier.  Tomorrow, Graovac and Sean Monahan head to Calgary to take part in Team Canada's Under-20 World Junior camp.  We wish them the best of luck as we hope for Ottawa's first Team Canada representation since 2003.