MALBOUEF DAZZLES IN DEBUT SHUTOUT
HAMILTON, ONTARIO. The Meridian Centre in Niagara played host to the second half of the home & home between the Hamilton Bulldogs & Niagara IceDogs on Saturday night with Tristan Malboeuf earning his first Ontario Hockey League start.
The first period wouldn’t start the way the Bulldogs liked as Artem Grushnikov would take a heavy hit early on and exit the game for a few shifts while Avery Hayes would take a scary headshot from Jake Uberti, earning the IceDogs forward a 5 minute major. While Hayes would quickly return, the Bulldogs would come up empty on the power-play despite a couple chances at Tucker Tynan while Tristan Malboeuf would stop all 7 shots he faced to send the game to the first intermission scoreless.
To start the second frame the Bulldogs would find lightning in a bottle, as Colton Kammerer and Ryan Humphrey would combine to get the puck to Logan Morrison on a short breakaway where Morrison would lift the puck over Tynan’s blocker hand giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 just 1:16 in. The Morrison line wouldn’t be done there as just 21 seconds later Colton Kammerer would start the play once again, getting the puck to Logan Morrison, feeding the puck to George Diaco in the right wing circle who beat Tynan, giving Diaco his 3rd of the season at 1:37. The IceDogs would put a push on to mount a comeback but Tristan Malboeuf would turn aside 13 Niagara second period shots to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead into the second intermission.
The third period would see the Bulldogs extend the lead at 11:28 with Ryan Humphrey fresh out of the penalty box skating into a loose puck and catching Tucker Tynan way out of his goal for his 3rd of the season giving the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead. George Diaco would extend the lead once more at 16:28 as the puck would be rotated out high to Jorian Donovan, getting his shot through to the net where Diaco would clean up the rebound for his 2nd of the night and 4th of the season giving the Bulldogs the 4-0 lead. That lead would stand as Tristan Malboeuf in his 1st career start would stop all 27 Niagara shots he faced, earning his 1st OHL shutout and marking back to back shutouts for the Bulldogs over Niagara.
The Hamilton Bulldogs return to action on Thursday night October 21st travelling to North Bay to face the Battalion at 7:00pm.
For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs 2021-22 season tickets, flex packs or single game tickets call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com
