MALBOEUF STEALS THE SHOW IN COSTANTINI’S RETURN TO HAMILTON
HAMILTON, ONTARIO. The Hamilton returned to action Monday afternoon for their Family Day matchup, welcoming back goaltender Marco Costantini and the Kitchener Rangers who hadn’t made the trip to FirstOntario Centre since February 17th, 2020.
Tristan Malboeuf began to make himself the story in the opening frame, making two massive on an early penalty kill, denying a deflected point shot and the rebound that followed. Lucas Moore pitched on in the penalty kill as well with a thumping shot block to deny a third good Rangers opportunity. Francesco Pinelli earned a solid opportunity with his team down a man nearing the halfway point of the period, carrying the puck across the blue line and flipped the puck over the stick of Lucas Moore and fired it on net, catching the iron and staying out. Malboeuf stole the show yet again, stretching out his leg denying Arcuri, and Sop of the deflection goals with the Dogs shorthanded keeping the game scoreless. The Bulldogs drew first blood with the reunited top line connecting. As Sahil Panwar strode over the line on the right side the veteran center spun the puck to Patrick Thomas on the boards with the crafty professor whipping a pass cross-slot to Nick Lardis firing a one-timer past Marco Costantini for his 30th of the season at 19:25, giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes with Malboeuf recording 16 saves in the opening period.
Shortly after a Noah Van Vliet penalty expired, Rangers forward Mitchell Martin was escorted to the box for hooking. The Rangers earned the best chance however with a 2-on-1 that was thwarted by Lucas Moore diving out and breaking it up with his stick. With just under 5-minutes remaining in the period the Rangers had an almost certain chance at tying the game as Filip Mesar sent a perfect cross slot pass to Matthew Sop that was only thwarted by a Noah Van Vliet hook and the trade-off paid dividends for the Bulldogs with the penalty kill again coming up strong. With 3:05 left in the frame and the Bulldogs shorthanded for the 4th time, Sahil Panwar picked up an errant pass in the neutral zone for a breakaway chance, striding straight down the slot Panwar absolutely lasered the puck over Costantini’s shoulder for his 22nd goal of the season, doubling the Bulldogs’ lead. With 40-minutes in the books the Bulldogs carried a 2-0 lead to the final frame.
Cedricson Okitundu built on the Bulldogs lead at 2:09, sending a right point shot that deflected off of a stick out front and over the head of Costantini for his 7th goal of the season, making it a 3-0 Bulldogs game. Despite Kitchener not showing an ounce of quit, Tristan Malboeuf continued his larceny making numerous what seemed like impossible saves, ranging from cross-crease to point blank net front chances capped off by his spectacular splitting toe save on Reid Valade from right in front of the Bulldogs goal. The Rangers called Costantini to the bench with 3-minutes remaining for the extra attacker and the pressure was on. Malboeuf yet again came up massive denying Danny Zhilkin net front with 1:56 on the clock. Kitchener called their timeout, and 9 seconds after play resumed, Artem Grushnikov trickled it down the ice into the open net sealing the game for his his 7th of the season and a 4-0 Bulldogs lead. Tristan Malboeuf closed out the game with 40-saves in the 4-0 win, earning his 1st shutout of the season and 2nd of his career in what could be described as his finest OHL performance to date.
The Bulldogs are back in action next Saturday, February 25th as they host the Kingston Frontenacs for the second time this week. The puck drops at 4pm at the FirstOntario Centre.
For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs 2022-23 Season Ticket packages call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com
