MORRISON EXTENDS POINT STREAK TO 18 IN 3-2 OT LOSS
KINGSTON, ONTARIO. The Hamilton Bulldogs pre-holiday road trip rolled on Friday night as the bus pulled up to Leon’s Centre in Kingston for the third meeting of the season between the Frontenacs and Bulldogs, the second in the last six days.
After a good first couple of shifts for the Bulldogs, Kingston got to the power-play and quickly struck at 2:26 with Paul Ludwinski collecting his 4th of the year from Jacob Battaglia and Quinton Burns to give the home side a 1-0 lead. From there Tristan Malboeuf made sure Hamilton would have an opportunity to climb back in the game as the Bulldogs rookie goaltender denied both Matthew Soto & Josh Currie on breakaway chances. The Frontenacs led on the shot clock 10-7 and the scoreboard 1-0 through 20 minutes while the Bulldogs picked up the tempo late in the period.
It was a Hamilton onslaught in the middle frame with Ivan Zhigalov becoming the story as the Bulldogs piled a season high 23 shots on the Kingston goaltender in the second period with the Colorado Avalanche draft pick turning aside all he faced. A scary moment for the Bulldogs in the second period, after Lawson Sherk had been hit from behind in the first, the Hamilton center took a knee on knee from a Kingston defender after making a move off the right boards past which resulted in a 2-minute minor and a brief absence for Sherk but luckily for the Bulldogs a quick return to the game. Despite furious chances from the likes of Cole Brown, Avery Hayes & Noah Van Vliet, who thought he had an empty net out of the right circle until Zhigalov flew across the crease to deny the attempt, the score remained 1-0 Kingston through 40 minutes.
The dam broke just 38-seconds into the third period as Logan Morrison worked the puck back to Avery Hayes, filling at the left point who fired a shot into a crowd in front of Zhigalov which deflected off Patrick Thomas who recorded his 5th goal of the season. With his assist on the goal, Logan Morrison ran his scoring streak to an OHL leading 18 straight games. At 4:23 of the third period, Paul Ludwinski was shoved down off a rush by Patrick Thomas who was assessed a rather dubious 5-minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct on the play. The Bulldogs managed to kill off the 5-minute major without surrendering a shot on Malboeuf’s goal in the process. When the Bulldogs got back to the power-play, Braeden Hache would loop a clearing attempt over the glass to give the Bulldogs an extended 5-on-3 where they struck. At 10:37, Ryan Humphrey moved the puck back to the top of the right circle from below the goal line for Logan Morrison who sent a laser beam pass cross ice for Avery Hayes to record his OHL leading 24th goal of the season to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead. After a late successful penalty kill for the Bulldogs, the Frontenacs pulled their goaltender and despite a Fronts player knocking Tristan Malboeuf’s glove off by pulling the puck loose from underneath, Matthew Soto’s back door tap in was allowed to stand after a challenge to tie the game at 19:56 and send it to overtime.
On the opening shift of the extra frame as Paul Ludwinski drove the Hamilton goal, Gavin White was assessed an extremely controversial holding penalty putting Kingston on a 4-on-3 where Ludwinski would score collecting a puck off a block for his 2nd of the game 5th of the season to give Kingston a 3-2 win.
The Hamilton Bulldogs finish the pre-holiday road trip on Saturday, December 17th visiting the Ottawa 67’s at TD Place for a 2:00pm matinee.
For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs Holiday Flex packages call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com.
