The Barrie Colts power play has struggled early this season, and Thursday night wasn’t any different.
Barrie’s failure to take advantage of the man advantage continued, and it proved costly in a 5-3 loss to the Flint Firebirds at Sadlon Arena.
There was no shortage of chances on the power play on this night as the Colts (4-3) finished 1-for-6, including five alone in the first period, and now sit 14th overall in the OHL with a dismal 13.3 per cent efficiency rate.
“We’re struggling with execution, burying our chances,” said Colts head coach Marty Williamson. “We got some young guys in some spots, and it’s just the way it goes sometimes. We don’t seem to quite have enough polish on our power play, our passes are just off a little bit. We’re just not executing well enough.”
Down 2-0 midway through the first period on goals by Coulson Pitre and Nolan Dann, the Colts made good on the second power play of the period to cut the lead to one on Cole Beaudoin’s fourth goal in his last two games.
But that was as good as it would get.
Barrie had three more chances with the man advantage but ran into a wall in Flint goaltender Nathan Day.
“I thought we had some good looks on the power play, it just wasn’t clicking,” said overager Jacob Frasca “We just got to execute. The plays are there, it’s just the execution part and finishing the plays. I had one and (Beau) Jelsma had one (chance).
“It’s just executing more, and everything will come together eventually.”
Tai York would draw the Colts even at 13:49 of the second period, but despite a dominating effort where they outshot (17-5) and outplayed Flint, a key turnover with just 49 seconds remaining would lead to a goal by Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Braeden Kressler and allow Flint (2-5) to carry a 3-2 lead into the third.
The goal would ignite the Firebirds heading into the third, and Chicago Blackhawks prospect Ethan Hay would pot the eventual winner at 7:25 to make it 4-2.
“I thought we played a good game, but we made some big mistakes that cost us goals,” said Williamson. “Sam (Hillebrandt) made a couple of big saves for us too. But that one late in the second, that hurts. And then just a bad change on one of the first two goals.
“Obviously the power play, we got to get some bread and butter there. We were 1-for-6 tonight. We got to try and get those numbers up because they’re big game changers.”
Beau Akey, who returned after missing a game with an injured foot, got the Colts to within one when his point shot found its way through with the Hillebrandt pulled and 2:22 remaining, but Kressler’s second of the night into an empty net would seal the deal.
“I thought we had a good second, it just got away from us in the first 10 minutes of the third period,” said Frasca. “I believe they had five shots in the second period, so to let the one in the second was definitely a head shaker.
“Overall, I thought we played OK. We just got to reset and play tomorrow.”
It also didn’t help the Colts that Day had arguably his strongest performance of the season with 38 saves, several of them outstanding. The Flint starter came into the night with a goals against average well over five, but you would never have known it.
“He was really good. He made some big saves,” Williamson said of the Edmonton Oilers prospect. “We had a couple of open nets in the second there, we just couldn’t get the puck by him. It could have been a different game with a few of those going in, but that’s the name of the game. You got to do it (score).”
The Firebirds looked nothing like the team that got blitzed 19-3 in their opening two losses of the season to Sault Ste. Marie and Kitchener and resulted in head coach Ted Dent being replaced behind the bench by Paul Flache.
“Their first two games were bad, but their last four games are good games,” said Williamson. “They lost 2-1 to Guelph and lost another 2-1 game to Saginaw. They’ve played well their last four games, so I think they were kind of due for a win and unfortunately, it was against us.”
The weekend doesn’t get any easier for Barrie. They head out on the road Friday to take on a good Guelph Storm club and then return home Saturday night to face a Sudbury Wolves team many consider the favourites in the Eastern Conference.
“Sold out building in Guelph, and we know they’re playing really well,” said Williamson. “That will be a tough game, and then Sudbury coming back in here. We knew it was going to be a tough weekend, and we would have liked to get this, but you got to play the hand you’re dealt.”
Game time tonight at the Sleeman Centre is 7:30 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: The Colts penalty-killing unit has also struggled. After giving up one goal on four chances, it now sits 18th overall with a disappointing 74.1 per cent efficiency rate. . . Connor Punnett drew two assists and now has six helpers in his last two games. . . Beau Jelsma also had two assists. . . Barrie outshot Flint 42-28. . . Rookie Shamar Moses had another solid game and drew an assist on a beautiful cross-crease setup of York, but is still looking for his first OHL goal.
banner image: Terry Wilson, OHL Images
