Attack Maul Shorthanded Spirit for 5th Straight Win
After coming off a big overtime win over a divisional rival the night before, and coming in against a team at the bottom of the conference. Not to mention the visitors playing with a shortened bench. It all added up to be a typical trap game for the Attack Saturday night at the Bayshore.
Instead, Owen Sound weathered the visiting Saginaw Spirit’s opening period, before pinning their opponent to the tune of 5-0.
Though the shot clock read 15-12 in favour of the Spirit, the first period was heavily controlled by the visitors, who had the more quality looks on net. It was some quick reactions on the penalty kill, sending Stepan Machacek and Servac Petrovsky on a shorthanded 2-on-0, where the two imports finished beautifully to put the Attack in front.
Though the Attack began to turn the tide of the play, the score remained 1-0 until midway through the second frame, when Nolan Seed’s point shot went bar down, after the Spirit net minder was screened by Cedrick Guindon on a fly-by.
It was just five minutes later when Colby Barlow corralled a bouncing puck in the high slot while on the power play. The rookie put a beautiful curl and drag move on the defenders before ripping a wicked wrist shot top corner. It was Barlow’s 21st goal of the season, placing him just one behind Bobby Ryan for the team record for goals by a 16-year old.
The power play marker was the second straight game that the Attack had capitalized with the man advantage, and it was early in the third when they would add a second power play goal in the game. It was Deni Goure, who took a sweet cross ice feed from Guindon, before firing home his team leading 22nd of the season.
Nick Porco, who had gone seven games without a goal, would bring the score to 5-0 late in the third, after taking advantage of a Spirit turnover just inside their own blueline.
The goal after that was to get goalie Nick Chenard his second shut out of the season. Owen Sound did not make that task easy, as they would take a pair of penalties within the final five minutes of the game. Some big saves by the Attack goalie would follow as well as some stellar penalty killing, which was a perfect 6/6 and a perfect 17/17 over the five game winning streak.
It was a somber mood late in the first period as Spirit starting goalie Tristen Lennox head to leave the game, after a small pile up in front of his net. The Attack fans and everyone in the arena held their breath, but Lennox was able to leave the ice under his own power, and to a big applause of encouragement from Attack faithful.
Owen Sound will look to stretch their streak to six games Monday night when they welcome the Guelph Storm to the Bayshore. This is a rescheduled game, with the original date set back on January 8th. For fans who had tickets to the original date are reminded that those ticket are still valid for entry Monday night.
