The Niagara IceDogs earned themselves a little payback Saturday night in Barrie.
Down by three goals early in the second period, the IceDogs rallied to tie the game late before Ethan Czata, with his team on the power play, scored just 53 seconds into overtime to cap the comeback and stun the host Colts 5-4 in front of a near sellout crowd of 4,190 at Sadlon Arena.
The win was sweet revenge for the IceDogs (18-15-3-1), who earlier this season blew a four-goal lead in the third period on home ice to the Colts in a 6-5 shootout loss.
“You definitely know when you’re playing a divisional game, it’s never an easy one. No matter who you’re playing,” said Barrie rookie defenceman Cole Emerton, who had a power-play goal and assist in the loss. “It’s never going to be a blowout or anything like that.
“So, definitely a tough way to finish, giving up that lead, but we’ll be ready the next time we play them.”
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For the second-straight night, Barrie (22-10-2-4), which had its three-game win streak snapped, held a late one-goal lead going into the latter stages of a game, but couldn’t hang on.
“They put us on our heels pretty good tonight,” said Colts’ head coach Dylan Smoskowitz, who liked his team’s play in the first half of the game until hitting a rut in the second.
“Once you get down like that, the other team gets going, and the snowball gets rolling. It’s really hard to put a stop to it,” added Smoskowitz. “We couldn’t put a stop to it tonight. Although I didn’t mind our third period, they just had a lot of firepower coming our way.”
Unlike Friday night in Kitchener, when the Colts gave up the equalizer to Rangers forward Christian Humphreys with 45 seconds remaining but still managed to pull out a 3-2 shootout win, Niagara went on to complete the comeback Saturday.
With Barrie up 4-3, Ryerson Edgar drove to the net and rifled one over the left shoulder of goalie Ben Hrebik to even the score with 4:17 left in the game.
Things went from bad to worse when Joseph Salandra, looking to get the puck off the glass and out of his zone with seven seconds remaining, flipped it into the crowd for a delay of game minor.
On the ensuing power play, former Colt Riley Patterson slid the puck across the slot to Czata, who hammered home the winner to complete the rally.
“You put those three guys together with Czata, Patterson, and Roobroeck on a power play like that, they’re not going to miss too many times,” said Colts’ head coach Dylan Smoskowitz.
Niagara’s Sean Doherty opened the scoring just under four minutes into the game, but the Colts reeled off four-straight to take control.
Jaiden Newton tied it a little under two minutes later, before Barrie’s specialty teams went to work.
Emerton and Salandra scored power-play goals a little more than four minutes apart halfway through the first to put Barrie on top, 3-1.
It looked as though they were ready to run away with this one when William Schneid buried a shorthanded marker just 54 seconds into the second to increase the lead.
Instead, an old foe - a lack of Barrie discipline - reared its ugly head and helped fuel the IceDogs back into this one.
Power-play goals by Hayden Reid and Patterson, a little more than four minutes apart halfway through the second, turned the tide.
Niagara outshot Barrie, 57-37.
“One way to kill yourself is to take these penalties, especially in a game where you’re feeling good,” said Smoskowitz. “You’re doing some good things, and you’re up by a couple of goals there. Penalties are always going to kill you, so we have to learn from it. We have to stay disciplined.
“A team like that, their power play fuels them. . . If we had just limited their chances and not given them confidence with puck touches and running plays, we’d probably be talking about a different outcome. But, at the end of the day, it’s just a learning experience. We’ll take the point in a divisional game.”
A resurgent Niagara club, which has won five of its last six games, now trails Barrie by 10 points atop the Central Division standings.
“It definitely sucks to give up a lead like that, but I think it’s something we can build off of, especially going into the second half here,” said Emerton. “It’s something you learn from and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
UP NEXT
Barrie begins a three-in-three stretch on Friday on the road in Guelph (16-18-2-1).
Niagara embarks on a three game road trip, with the first matchup in Brantford (25-7-4-1) on Wednesday.
ICE CHIPS
The IceDogs finished 3-for-5 on the power play, while the Colts were 2-for-4.
Patterson finished with three points and now sits fourth overall in OHL scoring with 49 points (22-27).
Heading into last night, Hrebik had given up just one goal in six of his last 9 games.
Salandra had a goal and two assists, and after going pointless in five games, the Barrie winger now has a goal and four points over his last two games.
With two points, Emerton is second in rookie scoring among defenceman with 20 points (2-18) in 37 games. Saginaw’s Levi Harper leads all blueliners with 31 points (7-24).
ADD. OHL
Windsor 4 Erie 1
Brampton 2 Flint 1
Peterborough 5 Owen Sound 3
Saginaw 5 Sault Ste. Marie 3
