Anson Thornton "stoned" his old Sarnia Sting team for a second time in two weeks and Connor Punnett hammered home the winner to help the Barrie Colts salvage something from a tough weekend.
Thornton made 38 saves and Punnett blasted home a power-play winner with just 25 seconds left in overtime to lead the Colts to a 3-2 win over the Sting on Sunday afternoon at Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
Punnett teed-off on a feed from across the top of the faceoff circle by Beau Akey, drilling a shot that flew past the glove hand of Nicholas Surzycia to help Barrie earn two points after losses to Owen Sound, Thursday at home, and Saturday night in Windsor.
"That shot has become a weapon," Colts head coach Marty Williamson said of Punnett's blast. "We use it on the five-on-threes and the power plays and the faceoff plays. Punnett was a real charger today and I thought he really handled himself well, and we're real proud of him."
Barrie's Ethan Cardwell had a couple of good chances in the overtime and when the Colts saw the Sting cheating to his side on the power play, they took advantage.
"Akey saw me open and he gave me a great pass," said Punnett. "Honestly, I didn't look at the net and just shot as hard as I could and it went in."
Thornton has had his share of struggles since he had a fantastic 36-save performance in a similar 3-2 overtime win over Sarnia back in Barrie on Nov. 19.
But the Arizona Coyotes goalie prospect slammed the door once again on his former teammates, making several impressive saves including a pair breakaways stops on OHL leading scorer Ty Voit.
An overtime breakaway save on Voit came just seconds after Colts rookie Cole Beaudoin was turned away on a breakaway by Surzycia.
Thornton, who gave the Colts a much-needed win after having dropped three of their last four games, was outstanding.
"He sure was," said Williamson. "This is two games against his old team and he just stoned them. (He had) a breakaway save in overtime. Both goalies did good for both teams, but we're happy our guy did his job."
While the Colts needed this one, they also wanted it for their goalie.
"It's great to see Anson help us win that game," said Punnett. "He stood on his head, made a couple of big saves and was just battling for us back there. He wanted to win this game, especially being back in his old barn and he did all he could.
"He battled hard and we obviously came out on the right side of the game."
After kicking off the weekend with a pair of 5-2 losses, the reeling Colts held a pre-game meeting Sunday in the dressing room and Cardwell made it clear they have to be better as a team if they want to stay as one before the trade deadline.
"(Windsor) was a strong battled game and they came on top, but we came into today just thinking we want to win," said Punnett. "This was a must-win game. We sat down in the (dressing room) before and Cardwell spoke up and said, 'Boys, we need to drill it down here and win this game if we want to keep going as a team.'
"So, everyone thought about that. As a team everybody worked together, we worked hard and we came out on top."
After a physical and scoreless first period that resulted in a match slew-foot penalty to Marcus Limpar-Lantz, the Colts scored twice just 34 seconds apart in the opening minutes of the second to grab the lead.
Chris Grisolia, parked on the doorstep, found the rebound to open the scoring at 3:04 before Beaudoin, who scored his first OHL goal Saturday in Windsor, deflected a puck past Surzycia.
The Colts ran into penalty trouble late in the second when Sasha Pastujov hammered home a one-timer with Sarnia on a two-man advantage to cut the lead to one. Voit then tied it midway through the third.
The Colts penalty kill, sixth overall (80.5 efficiency), was really good once again, holding Sarnia to just the one goal on six man advantages.
"I know your goaltending is your best penalty killer, but our penalty kill has been strong all year," said Williamson. "It's probably been the one consistent thing for our hockey team, so we're happy with the effort they gave us today."
The Colts bolstered their blueline with the return of Akey, from a two-game suspension, and Ian Lemieux, who slotted in as the third overager for Evan Vierling.
Along with Thornton, they kept a very good offensive team in Sarnia pretty much in check.
"Throwing Akey and Lemieux back in helped out an awful lot," said Williamson. "It makes our blueline a lot stronger and we needed that."
Punnett's goal was his fifth and matched the career-high five he got last season. The veteran also has a career-best 16 points in just 23 games.
Known more for his shutdown game, the defenceman has stepped up his contributions on offence.
"Obviously my offensive production in the past hasn't been crazy good, but this summer I took a real step and I've been working on that," said the 19-year-old. "Just this season, I've been focusing on when I can jump up and help on the offence and when I have to be back in the defensive zone.
"I think just getting that timing when I can go and when I can't go to the net has been huge for that."
Punnett has also taken advantage of the confidence the coaching staff has shown with him, especially on the power play.
"Everybody's dream is to get power play minutes," he said. "I've been a penalty kill guy all my life. Just willing to block shots and do the dirty work and then I get a chance this year to get on the power play to help my team out and I took the opportunity and I ran with it.
"I'm doing all I can to help us win."
The Colts return to action against Saginaw on Thursday night when they kick off a busy stretch of seven games in 11 days.
Game time at Sadlon Arena is 7:30 p.m.
ICE CHIPS: The Colts continue to look better away than on home ice this season. "I don't know why we're playing better on the road than at home, but you know if you want to be good in this league you got to win home games," said Williamson. . . Barrie outshot Sarnia, 42-40, including a combined 18-9 in the third period and overtime. . . Akey had two assists and four shots in his return from suspension. . . McDonnell has gone 18 games without scoring, but you got to feel he's on the verge of breaking out. The overager had two really good scoring chances and seven shots. . . Cardwell had his nine-game scoring streak halted.
banner image: Terry Wilson/OHL Images
