For a flu-ridden Ottawa 67’s club on the wrong side of opposing team’s inflated shooting percentages, they can consider themselves lucky to escape this past weekend with two points as they pull off a weekend split.
Having finally defeated a legitimate contender in the Battalion on Sunday, a five-point gap remains between the Barberpoles and fifth place Niagara.
For those who subscribe to the theory that inflated shooting and save percentage are unsustainable, the 67’s are sure to snap out of their struggles when Liam Herbst gets back in his groove.
A weekend’s collective PDO of 91.5 may have hampered a team that has had its shooting and save percentages evened out for the better part of the season.
Friday, 5-2 loss to Peterborough
More like PDOboro Petes.
After scoring on their first shot against Liam Herbst a week prior, Peterborough scored four goals on their first 11 shots on Friday.
This was the prototypical foot-off-the-pedal game.
Short of a nice powerplay goal via Dante Salituro and a little magic from Travis Konecny, this was a let-down game.
Sunday, 6-5 (SO) win over North Bay
The statistics were a bit of a wash in this one; Herbst had another rough start, but every shot North Bay managed was from point-blank range.
The 67’s may have only hosted the North Bay Battalion four times since their move, but they’ve allowed a combined 20 goals in them.
Luckily, in two of them, they managed a comeback in the last two minutes with the net empty and won the game 6-5, both times, in extra time.
Salituro did what he did a lot last year; putting on a clinic once the game appeared out of reach, the key word being “appeared”.
Highlighted by a fluke bounce and ensuing tally from Senators prospect Nick Paul, North Bay roared out to a 4-1 lead that they couldn’t sustain.
Jake Smith allowed an equally fluky marker to Brendan Bell, and down 5-4 with the net empty, Bell scored again to send the game to an extra frame.
Travis Barron, for the second time in a month, entered the shootout as the fifth shooter and notched the winner.
********
The 67’s continue to try and cement their spot with a home-and-home against Belleville this week, a sequence that could help decide if the two renew their long playoff history with one another again this year.
Up Next:
Another home-and-home with their other nearby rival in the Frontenacs follows.
*Photo courtesy of Valerie Wutti