MORRISON TIES FRANCHISE RECORD AS BULLDOGS TAKE 4TH STRAIGHT
MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO. Continuing a stretch of 3 games in under 4 days, the Hamilton Bulldogs bus pulled up to the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga for the third meeting of the season with the Steelheads. The Bulldogs entered the night with wind in the sails having won 3 in a row and coming off a 6-2 win on Thursday over the Niagara IceDogs.
The first period featured the battle of the young goaltenders as Tristan Malboeuf and Ryerson Leenders each took the pipes for their respective clubs and showed why both have created buzz. The Steelheads hit the board first, after a controversial penalty to captain Logan Morrison sent the Bulldogs to the penalty kill for the second time in the opening period, a Chas Sharpe point shot deflected off Noah Van Vliet and dropped below Malboeuf’s glove at 10:14 to give the hosts the lead 1-0. After a brilliant split stop from Tristan Malboeuf at his left post the Bulldogs went to the attack and earned their own power-play opportunity. With just 1-second left on the man-advantage, Braeden O’Keefe and Jorian Donovan combined to move the puck from left to right for Lucas Moore to fire a shot through a Florian Xhekaj screen and record his 1st of the season tying the game at 13:32. With the assist on the Moore goal, Donovan extended his point streak to 10-game, recording his 15th point over that stretch. After 20-minutes of play, Tristan Malboeuf had turned aside 12 of 13 while Ryerson Leenders denied 8 of the 9 his way to hit the locker room all knotted at 1-1.
Tristan Malboeuf made himself the story of the second period turning aside 13 shots with a handful of the incredible variety. With Luca DelBelBelluz taking a cross ice feed on the right-wing side, Malboeuf split across the crease and made a tremendous glove stop to keep the game tied. DelBelBelluz had a second opportunity later in the frame, striding up the left-wing side in a 2-on-1 with Quinn Binnie, Malboeuf denied the initial shot then with an explosive push from right to left, walled off the rebound chance to keep the game a 1-1 tie. The Bulldogs nearly made the hard work of Malboeuf pay off late in the period with a double deflection in front of the net that landed near Noah VandenBrink but wouldn’t sit flat for him eventually bouncing on to Logan Morrison who tried to beat Leenders back to the post only to hit the skate of Mason Zebeski and bounce away. With 40-minutes in the books, the Bulldogs and Steelheads remained deadlocked 1-1.
The third period started in nightmarish fashion for the Bulldogs as on the power-play Tristan Malboeuf tried a quick up that rolled off his forehand and right to Kai Schwindt who hit the empty net 3:07 to give the Steelheads a 2-1 lead. The Bulldogs answered right back 14-seconds later, just as a power-play was expiring Jorian Donovan and Lucas Moore worked the puck low to Florian Xhekaj who’s initial shot was walled off at the side of the net but collected his own rebound and fired it from below the goal line off Leenders and in for his 7th of the season tying the game 2-2 at 3:24. At 8:36 the Bulldogs nosed in front for the first time in the game as Patrick Thomas loosened the puck for Logan Morrison in the left corner who fed back for Artem Grushnikov’s laser off the back bar putting the Bulldogs up 3-2 on his 3rd of the season. The assist for Morrison marked his 132nd in the OHL tying Logan Morrison for the Hamilton Bulldogs franchise record. Tristan Malboeuf held strong down the stretch, turning aside 32 Steelheads shots on the night and with a Logan Morrison empty net goal at 19:44, his 12th of the season, secured the Bulldogs a 4-2 victory, their 4th straight.
The Hamilton Bulldogs return to action on Sunday afternoon, December 4th, hosting the Oshawa Generals for a 2:00pm matinee at FirstOntario Centre.
For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs Holiday Flex packages call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com.
