BARRIE EXPLODES FOR EIGHT GOALS TO BEAT KINGSTON
The Barrie Colts bounced back from a tough loss Friday in Oshawa and defeated the Kingston Frontenacs 8-6 at the Barrie Molson Centre Saturday night.
It’s the Colts second win of the weekend and third in their last four games overall.
For the third straight game a Colts forward recorded a hat-trick and this time it was Colin Behenna.
Barrie’s leading-scorer racked up three points in each game this weekend, and with 72 points is tied in seventh place in OHL scoring.
Josh Malecki got the nod in goal for Barrie after replacing John Chartrand Friday in Oshawa. He allowed two first period goals and would not return to start the second.
The goaltending switch, at first, didn’t appear to be the best idea, as Chartrand allowed a goal on the first shot he faced to make it 3-2 Kingston.
Michael Fine and Tyler Brown scored in the first for the Fronts, while Behenna scored both of Barrie’s goals. Steven Beyers, Mark Scheifele and Eric Locke all picked up assists in the first period, with Barrie scoring once short-handed and once on the power-play.
It was Connor Stokes who welcomed Chartrand to the game with a goal just 12 seconds in to the middle period. That was followed up by a Ryan Spooner marker 1:34 later that was actually tipped in by a Barrie defender.
The Colts specialty teams resumed their solid play when Petr Beranek scored a beauty down low, as he roofed a back-hand past Phillip Grubauer for another power-play tally. Tanner Pearson and Kyler Nixon had the assists.
Kingston took another two-goal lead before Locke scored his second in Barrie and 21st of the season, in his best game as a Colt. That made it 5-4 Frontenacs after 40 minutes.
Behenna completed his hat-trick with a game-tying goal 2:19 in to the third on another man-advantage. Scheifele and Locke, who joined Behenna as three stars, assisted on Barrie’s fifth of the game.
Barrie took their first lead of the contest with their fourth power-play goal as Matt Ashman found Scheifele for his 15th.
Dylan Smoskowitz added some insurance with his 13th from Beranek and Pearson, however, 1:13 later the Frontenacs came back with a Charles Sarault marker.
The Colts would cap off their night with Scheifele’s second of the period and fifth in the last two games, as Locke set him up beautifully while skating short-handed.
Barrie went four of seven with the extra man, and also posted two short-handed goals in the 8-6 triumph over Kingston.
Chartrand would settle in nicely and made 21 saves for his second win of the weekend.
The Colts now trail the Belleville Bulls and Peterborough Petes by just six points for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
