For the first time since November of 2000, the Ottawa 67’s dropped a contest to a team from North Bay, falling 4-3 to the recently relocated North Bay Battalion on Sunday afternoon.
Battalion captain Barclay Goodrow’s second goal of the night a minute into the third period held up as the winner.
“I thought we made some selfish plays,” said head coach Chris Byrne. “We took some ridiculously bad penalties that cost us the hockey game.”
Joseph Blandisi was ejected from the game late in the first for slew-footing Brandon Robinson. North Bay scored three times on the powerplay, the third powerplay caused when Brett Gustavsen crashed into the net after the whistle.
“It's just the stupidity of them. We took dumb penalties. There's no one else to blame but ourselves, we played hard enough and worked hard enough to win. We weren't smart enough to win the game.”
Travis Konecny scored the first two goals in the second period to erase a two-goal deficit before North Bay stormed back.
“I made the most of what I could,” said Konecny on replacing Blandisi’s top-line duties. “But it's going to be big getting him back, he's a big part of our team.”
Konecny was on the receiving end of a perfect powerplay cycle, finishing a pass from Gustaven to get Ottawa on the board. He tied the game on a two-on-one late in the second period.
Matt MacLeod gave North Bay their second lead of the game before the end of the middle frame. Connor Brown brought the home side to within one in the third period, but unlike Friday night, the 67’s were unable to come back from both a 2-0 and 4-2 deficit in the same game.
Vincent Praplan and Goodrow scored in the first period, and Jake Smith made 24 saves for the Battalion who improve to 2-1-0.
Jacob Blair made 21 saves in the loss, dropping the 67’ to 1-1-0.
Ottawa’s five-game homestand continues on Friday as the 67’s take on Plymouth.
Game sheet can be found here.
Three Stars as Selected by the Team1200:
Assorted Notes:
Hardest Working 67's: Brendan Bell
Assorted Notes:
- Konecny, who tripped over the blueline on his first shift Friday, fell awkwardly into the boards on his first shift today as well. He appeared shaken up, but laughed it off after the game. "I think someone's throwing bananas at me out there or something. It's not my skates."
- Adrian Sloboda and Alex Lintuniemi are still paired together. With both of them trying to learn the North American game and ice at the same time, it's questionable to have them on the ice together at all times. However, they had a pair of strong penalty kills today, and for the first time in recent memory, the 67's have two imports that are happy in Ottawa. If keeping them together keeps them happy, it's a good move.
- Blair got the nod a second day in a row when many expected Clint Windsor would check in. "(Blair) won on Friday, he was in today. Simple," said Byrne.
- If Blair is going to improve on his shaky goals against average from last season, five-hole shots from just above the goal line are going to have to stop going in. He's allowed four such goals in the last two games.
Celebrating Travis Konecny's first OHL goal and the first Ottawa goal of the game.
Import Adrian Sloboda
Rookie Troy Henley
Click here to see more pictures from the game.
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