Nyman scores 2 in 4-1 win over Oshawa
All eyes were on Kingston Saturday afternoon when they lined up to face the Oshawa Generals. Sportsnet was in town to broadcast the rare Saturday afternoon tilt. With a national TV audience, the Frontenacs were looking to show the country that they were a contender this season. Kingston was coming off a tough 4-2 home ice loss to the Guelph Storm on Friday night, while Oshawa came in having won 5-3 over the Flint Firebirds in their last game. Kingston and Oshawa had only one previous meeting before this game, and that was a 4-1 win for Kingston back on November 5. It was the first of three visits over the next three weeks by the Generals.
The Frontenacs came out buzzing. From the drop of the puck they had speed, puck possession and chances. Unlike Friday nights game, they were finishing on some of those chances. It took until 9:34 of the period, but once Matt Hotchkiss got the first Frontenacs goal just after a power play had expired, the floodgates opened. After a number of quality scoring chances in his first four periods with the team, Max Jones finally beat Cole Ceci with his great snap shot for his first goal with the club. Less than a minute later Linus Nyman found a loose puck in a mad scramble in front of the Oshawa net and powered it over the goal line to make it 3-0 Kingston. At the end of the period the Frontenacs had outshot Oshawa 20-9 and outscored them 3-0 in a truly dominant period.
The scoring pace slowed in the second period, but Kingston still looked strong. One of the best lines of the period was the Nichol – Cranford – Hotchkiss line. Ted Nichol had a wicked release from the slot that hit the bottom of the crossbar, but stayed out of the net. That was followed by a Nichol and Cranford odd man rush that was broken up at the last second. Despite the Kingston chances it was Oshawa that scored the first goal of the period. They won an offensive zone faceoff and Matt Brassard beat Jeremy Helvig through a screen to cut the Kingston lead to 3-1. The top line for Kingston responded quickly to restore the three-goal lead. Gabe Vilardi made an incredible pass from behind the net while on his knees to Max Jones, who found Linus Nyman for the fourth Kingston goal of the game. The Generals had a bit of a spurt near the end of the period, but Kingston was still controlling the game through the first two periods.
The third period saw no scoring, but showed that Kingston is capable of controlling a game while leading. Oshawa had very few chances to get anything going. Even when they had control of the puck, they were rarely able to enter the Kingston zone. By the end of the night the Frontenacs more than doubled Oshawa on the shot clock 41 – 20. It was a very impressive game for Kingston that resulted in a 4-1 victory.
Kingston’s lines were noticeably starting to get more comfortable with each other. With all four lines playing a solid game, Kingston is easily one of the deepest teams in the OHL.
The two teams will butt heads again tomorrow evening when Kingston heads to Oshawa for the back end of a home and home. The Frontenacs will then play in Peterborough on Thursday evening before returning home to face the Hamilton Bulldogs next Friday at 7 PM.