A night after blowing a three-goal lead against Sudbury, the Barrie Colts put on their own rally Sunday night in Oshawa.
While it may have not resulted in a win, it did help them earn a hard-fought point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Generals at the Tribute Communities Centre.
Down 3-1 midway through the second period, the Colts used a couple of big blasts from the blueline to beat Generals goalie Patrick Leaver and get this one into overtime.
Beau Akey cut the lead to one at 15:08 of the second and then Connor Punnett hammered a one-timer with just 2:40 remaining to tie at 3-3.
While the Colts would eventually come out on the short end of the shootout, it was vastly better finish than the one that saw them blow a 4-1 lead in 5-4 overtime loss at home to the Wolves on Saturday.
"I thought we showed a lot of character and it was kind of a challenge for the guys," said Colts head coach Marty Williamson of the quick turnaround after a tough loss. "Last night was disappointing that we let that game slip away and I said this is kind of an opportunity to prove that we're not going to mope about it and we're going to come out and play a good game, and I thought we did just that."
The point capped off a pretty decent weekend of work for the Colts (12-9-3-2), who despite two losses in three games still managed to earn four of six points available and move into a second-place tie with the Mississauga Steelheads in the Central Division with two games in hand.
"If we had played like this, we could have closed out last night," added Williamson. "So, we gave up a point on the weekend. Five out of six would have been nice, but four out of six is a good weekend."
Even then, Tai York knows he and his teammates left points on the table.
"Four out of six is pretty good, but we should have had six out of six," said the winger, who opened the scoring at 13:53 of the opening period when he parked himself in front of the net and deflected Akey's point shot past Leaver.
Lleyton Moore would even it up at 1-1 for Oshawa (11-13-1-2) less than five minutes later in the first and they would grab control in the second period when Barrie ran into penalty trouble midway through the frame.
Calum Ritchie, parked in front, one-timed a feed from behind the net by Ryan Gagnier for the first power-play marker.
The Generals struck again on the power play just under two minutes later when Brett Harrison walked into the slot and slid it to across the slot to Gagnier who one-timed the pass over the left shoulder of Anson Thornton.
Barrie though would bounce right back and earn the point with a strong finish in the third.
After a scoreless overtime, Gagnier would have the lone goal of the shootout to give the host Generals a fifth-straight win.
Williamson, though, was happy with his team's effort on this night.
"We played a hell of a third period," he said. "We had good patience. We didn't push it and waited for our opportunity. We had a couple of chances too.
"Anson played well in net when we needed him. It was a pretty good game all-around, unfortunately we took those two penalties back-to-back and they got a couple of goals off that."
Williams was happy to see some scoring from different sources on this night. He also praised winger Roenick Jodoin for a "strong" effort. Even moving him up to the top line with Jacob Frasca and Ethan Cardwell.
"We got some good shifts all-around and that's the kind of consistency you need to win in this league, especially on the road coming off back-to-back games and quick turnarounds," said Williamson.
The Colts face another busy week with four games heading into the Christmas break.
Barrie hosts Sudbury back at home Tuesday, before a trip to Guelph on Friday night. They cap off a seven-games-in-11-nights stretch with weekend home-and-home set against North Bay beginning Saturday night at Sadlon Arena.
With the OHL trade deadline not far off, the Colts will have to show they can put some wins together if they want management to become a buyer ahead of Jan. 10.
"If we get these next four games we're sitting pretty good going into the break," said York. "Just keep it going on and then see what happens at the deadline."
Williamson says with the quick turnaround his team will take a day of rest on Monday while going over some things for a rematch with Sudbury on Tuesday.
"These are the times you need your whole team and I thought from our goaltending out we got that kind of effort tonight," he said. "Now we got to get the same thing on Tuesday."
Game time versus the Wolves is 7:30 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: Punnett continues his career best season with his sixth goal and an assist and now has 18 points in 26 games. "He's doing a real good job for us," said Williamson. "He blocked a shot in the first and then got a little hurt, but there's no stopping the kid. He keeps playing and playing for us. He's having a real good year.". . . After scoring in each of their four previous games, going 5-for-10, Barrie's power play was held scoreless on three chances. Oshawa was 2-for-4. . . Thornton was outstanding again for Barrie, stopping 42 of 45 shots. He's now faced over 40 shots in each of his last three games, helping Barrie earn two wins and five of six points. . . Ian Lemieux slotted into the lineup as the third overager, with Evan Vierling sitting out.
Terry Wilson/OHL Images
