Even when at the top of their game, the Barrie Colts find the Ottawa 67’s a handful.
Face them with a tank running on empty, and it’s going to be a long night.
Squaring off for a second time in a little more than 48 hours, Ottawa took advantage of a weary-looking Barrie club to complete the sweep of the home-and-home set with a convincing 6-2 victory, Thursday night, at Sadlon Arena.
Ottawa, which topped Barrie 6-4 in the Nation’s Capital on Wednesday afternoon, took control of this one early with a dominating first period that resulted in goals by Cooper Way and Jacob Maillet, and an impressive 20-5 edge in shots.
“We just looked like a tired hockey team,” said Barrie head coach Marty Williamson, whose club was playing its fifth game in the last eight days. “We didn’t execute things, and they played much faster than us.
“When you do that, you’re going to get lopsided ice. They played in one zone.”
A late first-period blindside major and game misconduct to Michael Derbidge would end his night and prove costly as Maillet, with his second of the game, on the power play and Kim Kimi Körbler scored 32 seconds apart early in the second to make it 4-0.
“I feel like we weren’t on our game from the start,” said Colts’ veteran defenceman Grayson Tiller. “Our structure wasn’t there, we weren’t mentally in the right mind space tonight.
“We’ve been better, but tonight was just an off night. We got to get better.”
The Colts, who had just 12 shots through two periods, showed some signs of life past the midway point of the second to cut the lead in half.
Jack Brauti wired home a blast at 12:06 and then Beau Jelsma, with his 36th of the season to run his impressive point streak to 17 games (18-13-31), scored a little more than three minutes later.
The 67’s though would squash any hope of a comeback early in the third when Luca Pinelli scored his 45th of the season just 52 seconds in with Ottawa on the power play and then Brenden Kressler delivered the knockout punch a little more than six minutes later when he took a feed from Pinelli after a bad turnover in front of the net and beat Colts’ goaltender Sam Hillebrandt.
“We’ve been playing games every other day, but it’s no excuse,” said Tiller. “We’ve got to come out here and have the right mindset. “We got to stick to our structure. Tonight, we just weren’t on our game.”
With the loss, the Colts (26-32-4-0) remain eight points ahead of the Peterborough Petes and three points away from clinching the eighth and final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.
Kashawn Aitcheson missed the contest sitting out the first of a two-game suspension, and he’ll be joined now on the sidelines by Derbidge.
Roenick Jodoin injured his shoulder midway through the second and never returned to the game after getting involved in a tussle in the corner with Ottawa’s Matthew Mayich.
Careless penalties, a trip below the goal line and two suspensions in the last two games. None of it helps, said a disappointed Williamson.
“Just careless stuff that we’re not good enough to avoid this kind of stuff,” he said. “We said all along we need everybody, and now we got two suspensions, an injury and everything starts to pile up.”
With the win, Ottawa (35-22-5-2) now sits four points behind Oshawa for top spot in the conference and just one point behind North Bay, Brantford, and Mississauga.
Unfortunately for the Colts, there’s no let-up in the schedule. Including last night, Barrie closes out the regular season with seven games in 10 days.
“We got to find a way to grind through this and keep our head above water, keep energy and all those kinds of things,” said Williamson. “It’s hard right now. We’re a young team, we start losing bodies. We just look tired.”
A loss by the Petes Friday night in Kingston and a single Barrie point over the final six games and they clinch.
“Our goal in this room is to get the playoff berth soon,” said Tiller. “We don’t want other teams to help us, we want to do it ourselves.”
The Colts host the Sudbury Wolves on Saturday night. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: Williamson wasn’t sure how long Jodoin would be out. “I see him with a sling on and I’m not sure what it’s going to be,” he said. “Again, we just didn’t need to do these things. We don’t need to get involved in the scrums and all that kind of stuff. It’s not our hockey game and now it’s cost us an injury and suspensions.” . . . Pinelli had a power-play goal in the second called back after the play was ruled offside. . . Ottawa outshot Barrie 38-20. . . Collin MacKenzie made 20 saves to pick up his 14th win for Ottawa. . . Samuel Mayor had two assists to finish with a goal and four points in the back-to-back games for the 67’s. . . The Colts are 1-7 against Ottawa over the last two seasons.
banner image: Terry Wilson, OHL Images
