PANWAR AND LARDIS DOUBLE UP, BEAT OTTAWA 6-3
HAMILTON, ONTARIO. The Hamilton held their last home game of the regular season on Sunday afternoon hosting the Ottawa 67s. Prior to puck drop, a ceremony was held for Sahil Panwar, where he was awarded a framed jersey, to celebrate his overage season.
It was none other than Sahil Panwar himself opening the scoring this afternoon. Just 2:09 into the game, Callum Cheynowski sent a pass over to Noah Roberts whose heavy, low shot was tipped by Panwar past Max Donoso to give the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead on Panwar’s 27th of the season. Panwar kept the Bulldogs on the front foot at 5:27 as the veteran centerman stole the puck in the defensive zone and sent it to Nick Lardis who raced the puck up the ice on a 3-on-1 and elected to shoot, lasering a puck past Donoso to tally his 35th of the season giving the hosts a 2-0 lead. Max Donoso bounced back making a brilliant leg save on Cole Brown which brought the 67s back into the game as Gavin Ewles followed up between the hashmarks, spinning and shooting on net, surprising Matteo Drobac making it 2-1 at 9:59. Drobac held strong the rest of the frame including a quick split stop to deny Pavel Mintyukov on the man-advantage late, keeping the Bulldogs up 2-1 through 20 minutes.
Florian Xhekaj regained the Bulldogs 2 goal lead just 2:39 into the middle frame courtesy of some very fancy footwork by Adrian Rebelo who danced around the Ottawa defenseman, pushing the puck back into the slot to Xhekaj who looped it into the open cage for his 12th of the season. Nick Lardis stole the puck on a failed 67s breakout and dished the puck to an open Lawson Sherk who ripped it short side over the shoulder of Donoso and around the back bar for his 5th goal in his last 3 games, increasing Hamilton’s lead to 4-1. After that, the evening was done for Max Donoso, and Collin MacKenzie entered the game in his place. Ottawa began to pick up the pace after the 4th goal against. Jack Beck and Will Gerrior both earned chances up tight but were turned aside by Matteo Drobac. The Bulldogs netminder came up big yet again denying Jack Beck and Luca Pinelli on the penalty kill to hold the three goal advantage through the mid-way point. Sahil Panwar, off a neutral zone feed from Patrick Thomas, managed to break away from the Ottawa defense and wire a wrist shot top shelf short side past MacKenzie for his 2nd goal and 3rd point of the afternoon, giving Hamilton a commanding 5-1 lead 17:08. Ottawa managed to get one back before the period expired as Luca Pinelli rifled a right circle buzzer beater at 19:59 to send the game to the locker with a 5-2 scoreline.
Sahil Panwar came close to completing the hattrick on the powerplay early in the third period, dancing through three but was denied by a sprawling MacKenzie. Shortly after the penalty expired, Frankie Marrelli looked to bring the 67s to within 2 bolting down from his defensive position for an opportunity, but Matteo Drobac slid across to make a massive save for the Bulldogs. With the Bulldogs on their 2nd man-advantage of the game Matteo Drobac settled the puck for Lucas Moore who strode through the defensive zone and sent Nick Lardis away to capitalize for the 2nd time this afternoon snapping the puck short side under the arm of MacKenzie for his 36th of the campaign, and the Bulldogs 6th of the game at 6:28. Jack Beck added 1 more for Ottawa at 15:06 off a great drive to the net front from rookie defenseman Henry Mews, but it was too little too late and the Bulldogs prevailed by a 6-3 final score.
The Bulldogs head to Sarnia on Wednesday night to open their 5-game road trip to close out the 2022-23 regular season. The puck drops at 7:05pm at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs 2022-23 playoff tickets call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com
