Fronts find comfort at home, take 4-2 win over Colts in game 3
The Frontenacs entered game three in need of a boost to get back in the series. They were hoping that the return of Max Jones to the line-up would provide the boost they were looking for. That, mixed with the return to home ice, could have been just what they needed to get their first win of the series against the Barrie Colts. The Colts took game one with a 6-5 overtime victory and followed that with a 4-1 game two win last week.
It was a great start to the game for Kingston. Barrie looked to have scored in the opening minutes, but the goal was waved off due to goaltender interference on Jeremy Helvig. Kingston ended up getting a lengthy power play a few minutes later when Luke Bignell was called for high sticking and handed a double minor. Kingston exploded for two goals on the power play. Jakob Brahaney scored from the point during the first half of the four-minute power play to give Kingston a 1-0 lead. The power play struck again when Linus Nyman converted on a beautiful passing play from Vilardi and Robertson. Barrie cut the lead in half late in the period when Andrei Svechnikov went end to end and beat Helvig on the blocker side. Kingston had their best period of the series and it resulted in a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.
The second period had a different look to it than the first. Barrie had some more jump and it showed on the shot clock. They outshot Kingston 10-3 in the period. Jeremy Helvig had a perfect period to keep the 2-1 Kingston lead intact. The addition of Max Jones certainly brought some hostility to the series. Jones had already made three trips to the penalty box but had clearly disrupted the Colts attitude. The Frontenacs had seen six power play opportunities by the end of two periods and scored on two of them. The Kingston lead remained 2-1 after forty minutes.
The third period had much more excitement than Kingston was hoping for. The Colts went to a power play after a Brett Neumann high stick and it only took Dmitry Sokolov a few seconds to tie the game. The Fronts almost seemed to gain momentum on the Barrie goal. Gabe Vilardi put Kingston ahead again at 11:47 of the period with a bad angle shot that squeezed through Lazarev. Barrie pulled their goalie with over two minutes remaining, but they lost the ability to have the extra man when Zachary Magwood was called for interference trying to keep the puck in the zone. With the goalie on the bench, but still playing 5 on 5 hockey, Vilardi scored his second of the period into the empty net to seal the game for Kingston. The Fronts won the game 4-2 and cut the Barrie series lead in half to 2-1.
The Burnie – Cranford – Nichol line was given the task of defending the trio of 40 goal scorers that Barrie has, and they did an excellent job. Other than the two power play goals, Luchuk, Sokolov and Svechnikov didn’t create much offence in the game.
Game four is Tuesday night at the Rogers K-Rock Centre. Game time is 7 PM and tickets are available now. The series will head back to Barrie for game five on Thursday night.