ZHIGALOV BACKSTOPS FRONTS TO 5–1 VICTORY
HAMILTON, ONTARIO. The Hamilton Bulldogs were right back in action on Sunday afternoon for a divisional matchup against the visiting Kingston Frontenacs for Military Appreciation Day in the team’s last home game prior to the Christmas break.
Despite the travel from Erie last night the visiting Frontenacs were able to get the better of the Bulldogs in the opening frame. After the Bulldogs killed an early period Kingston power-play, the Fronts piled on the pressure putting two past Hamilton starter Tristan Malboeuf in the span of 38 seconds courtesy of Adam Cavallin cleaning up the garbage in front of the net for his 4th of the season at 10:05, and Christopher Thibodeau firing in a juicy rebound on a 2-on-1 for his 5th of the season, to give the Fronts an early 2-0 lead at 10:43. With the Bulldogs back on the penalty kill late in the first period, the hosts challenged the Kingston net with a pair of shorthanded breakaways. First, rookie Marek Vanacker whose shot glove side narrowly missed the net, and second by Lawson Sherk who deked backhand but was stopped by a sprawling Ivan Zhigalov to keep the Fronts 2-0 lead intact. Captain Logan Morrison continued the momentum skating into the offensive zone and converting a beautiful curl and drag move using the Fronts defenseman as a screen, firing a dart over the shoulder of Zhigalov to cut Kingston’s lead in half at 16:49 and extend his point streak to an OHL season long 16 games.
The second period started in Kingston’s favour once again with Jacob Battaglia getting his 4th of the season 3:50 into the period restoring the two-goal lead for the Fronts. The parade to the penalty box turned in Hamilton’s favour, after 3 successful first period kills, the Bulldogs had the next 3 man-advantages. Ivan Zhigalov was able to fight off multiple chances on the Bulldogs powerplay of the period, including chances by Avery Hayes, Logan Morrison, Gavin White and a tip pass sent just wide by Patrick Thomas. Zhigalov’s best stop came with Morrison skating into the right circle and whipping a pass cross-zone to Hayes for a one-timer that the towering Fronts netminder was able to get post to post and turn aside.
The Bulldogs went to the power-play again just seconds into the third period but couldn’t close the gap on the scoreboard with Zhigalov holding strong in the Kingston goal. Hamilton continued to pressure at even strength sending everything they could towards the goal with Zhigalov making a key glove save on White, and a sprawling pad save on Hayes. With the Bulldogs on the penalty kill just past the 5-minute mark of the third, Malboeuf was able to get just enough of a point-blank shot from Jacob Battaglia to keep the puck out as it just trickled wide. Shortly after a second successful third period penalty kill for Hamilton, a scramble in front of Malboeuf’s net led to Christopher Thibodeau tapping in his 2nd of the game to increase the Fronts lead to 4-1 with 7:55 remaining. Malboeuf headed to the bench with two minutes remaining for an extra attacker in hopes of gaining a spark, however, Thibodeau was able to fire it into the empty net, completing the hat-trick and sealing Kingston’s 5-1 victory in large part due to 30 Ivan Zhigalov saves.
The Bulldogs hit the road this Thursday for their first “3 in 3” weekend this season, stopping in Peterborough on Thursday with a 7:00pm start time and following on to Kingston on Friday at 7:00pm and Ottawa on Saturday with a 2:00pm puck drop.
For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs 2022-23 Holiday Flex packages call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com
