Sometimes you just have to take what’s given to you.
Riley Patterson did and the result was a game-winning shorthanded goal that ignited a late three-goal outburst in a little over two minutes to power the Barrie Colts to a key 6-3 win over the Kingston Frontenacs, Saturday night, at Sadlon Arena.
“It was nice to get one shorthanded,” said Patterson, who raced in on two-on-one with captain Beau Jelsma and decided to hang on and fire one over the blocker of Kingston goaltender Mason Vaccari to break a 3-3 tie with 4:25 remaining. “Our penalty kill was good all night. That’s not our first goal for the penalty kill, but it’s always nice when you get a break like that.
“It was nice to put one in there.”
The Vancouver Canucks prospect took a glance over at Jelsma and decided then and there that he was going to shoot.
“You always have to look over and see where the defenceman is,” said Patterson, who had a goal and assist and now has a team-leading 25 markers and 58 points. “The defenceman was playing it pretty well, like in the middle. He was giving me the shot, so I took it.”
Patterson also knew exactly where he was going to shoot it.
“You always have the head up looking for the corners and I was lucky to find that one,” he said.
Marty Williamson was happy to see him the forward handle it himself.
“We’ve done these passes where we try to lob it over the guy and it’s in the air,” said the Colts’ general manager and head coach. “We kind of said if you want to make the pass, and you can’t make it early, then let’s go for the shot and go for the rebound, so it was a great job by Patty.
“He’s got a great shot and, obviously, he saw some of the net. That’s a huge goal for us.”
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Bode Stewart scored 33 seconds later, and Cole Beaudoin sealed it just under two minutes later to give Barrie (37-18-2-2) its fourth-straight win and move them within three points of the Brantford Bulldogs, with a game in hand, atop the Eastern Conference standings.
Owen Van Steensel, Anthony Romani, and Kashawn Aitcheson, whose 22 goals are just one behind the franchise record of 23 for a defenceman shared by Brandt Clarke, Aaron Ekblad, and Andrew Marshall, also scored for the Colts.
Jacob Battaglia, with a pair, and Tuomas Uronen scored for Kingston (35-16-5-3), which is now tied with Barrie at 77 points with nine games remaining, a mere point ahead of the Oshawa Generals.
“We’re fighting for first place, so these points are big,” said Williamson. “We get a loss we don’t get another chance to make it up or anything like that. You got to move on to the road trip that we got ahead of us. It was a big two points. I said, ‘let’s play it like a playoff game.’”
It certainly looked like one as both teams came into the game knowing of the importance of what clinching home ice throughout the playoffs might make in a conference where there appears little to choose between the top five teams.
The Colts jumped to a 3-1 lead later in the second period on goals by Aitcheson, on the power play, and Romani’s a little more than three minutes apart.
For Romani, it was his third in three games and it came on a nice individual effort that saw him strip the puck off Nolan Buttar in front of the Kingston net and then spin and deke around the left pad of Vaccari.
“They’re really starting to come,” Williamson said of Romani and Van Steensel, who have combined for six goals and 10 points over the last three games. “Just the composure on that move that (Romani) made on Vaccari. Van Steensel just deserves everything he gets. He’s just a worker. He’s a great teammate and you’re really happy to see him get rewarded.”
The back-and-forth contest took another turn when just two minutes later Uronen stripped Evan Passmore of the puck in front and beat Barrie goaltender Sam Hillebrandt.
The Frontenacs would carry the momentum in the third and were once again rewarded on Battaglia’s second of the night and 3-3 equalizer.
“I thought we wandered at times, but we’re still missing Dalyn Wakely (suspension) and Tristan Bertucci (mono) and having extra guys to kind of lock down things a little bit,” said Williamson. “I didn’t like the start of the third period obviously, but we righted our ship and found a way to get three there.”
Things looked like it might even get worse after Passmore was sent off for holding, but the Colts not only held the Kingston power play in check for a third time, but they would also record a 12th shorthanded marker, behind only Sault Ste. Marie (17), London (14), and Windsor (13).
“They did come out strong in the third period, (riding) the momentum from the second, but I thought we handled that well,” said Patterson. “We didn’t get too hung back on adversity and anything like that. We stuck to what we’re good at and waited for our chances and buried our chances.”
Barrie will now embark on a six-game road swing beginning next Thursday night in Saginaw and Friday night in Sault Ste. Marie.
The Spirit is the OHL’s highest-scoring team and is trying to hold off the Erie Otters for fourth place in the Western Conference and home-ice advantage in the first round, while Greyhounds sit just one point ahead of the Sarnia Sting for a playoff spot.
“We know that’s going to be tough and they’re going to have all their guys back and we’re still going to be missing those two,” Williamson said of Saginaw, which fell 5-4 in overtime Thursday night in Barrie. “Then up in the Soo. These are desperate teams. The Soo is battling, and every point means everything, so we don’t get any breaks, and we have a lot of travel ahead of us.
“It was big to get these wins.”
Puck drop at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw is 7:05 p.m.
ICE CHIPS:
The Colts paid tribute to the club’s billets with an on-ice ceremony before the game. . . Kingston outshot Barrie 44-33. Hillebrandt, making his second-straight start, was strong all night. “He got kind of robbed on a couple of games on the weekend and I thought he played well for us against Saginaw,” said Williamson on going back to the veteran. “He did a good job for us and then again (tonight). He was rock solid. There were some big saves when we gave up some chances that I didn’t like, but he was big.” . . . Williamson said Bertucci, who hasn’t played since Feb. 1 against Niagara, could be back soon. “He’s getting close,” the coach said. “I still think we’re a week or two away, but we’ll definitely have him back before playoffs start and it’s just the timing on that. He’s getting an ultrasound on Tuesday, and we’ll see how things are there, but he’s close to coming back. He’s on the ice, he feels good. Just that his spleen has to get down to the proper side.” . . . Jaiden Newton returned from his two-game suspension.
