Clattenburg connects for clutch goal
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Zoë Parry – @zpflicks)
Nobody said it had to be storybook perfect.
And this one certainly wasn’t.
But late in a tied game on Saturday, all the Soo Greyhounds wanted was a victory.
Which is exactly what Connor Clattenburg helped to provide.
The Arnprior, Ont., native redirected a Kirill Kudryavtsev point shot through the five-hole on Owen Flores at 19:50 of the third period.
The result for the Hounds was a 5-4 victory over the Niagara IceDogs before 4,014 at the Meridian Centre.
“I hopped on the ice, the boys had the puck down low and I pushed through a defenceman,” said Clattenburg, who scored a pair of goals to help the Soo rebound from a 3-1 first period deficit. “Kirill put it in the right spot and I just tipped it down. It definitely feels good, especially after Thursday’s game (a 5-3 loss in North Bay) when we were flat all night.”
The second-year winger has three goals this season and five in his OHL career.
Saturday’s game-winning marker was the first for the 18-year-old (2005 birth year).
“I always want to go out and help the team as best I can. I’m glad I got the two tonight, but my teammates helped me out with that,” added Clattenburg, whose club improved to 12-6-0-0 heading into Sunday’s trip finale, a 2 p.m. start against the 13-5-0-0 Rangers in Kitchener. “The boys had heart tonight. It was dirty, but we did it.”
Known more as a grinding, physical winger, Clattenburg scoring two key goals was “huge” said veteran forward Julian Fantino.
That was especially true on a night when the visitors offence struggled at times.
“We couldn’t get the offensive side of our game going,” added Fantino, who notched his fourth goal of the season on a night when the visitors held a 36-24 edge in shots. “We had a slow start, we needed guys to step up and he’s one of the guys who had a great night.”
The Hounds were sloppy at times, especially in their own zone.
But assistant coach Brendan Taylor, filling in for head coach John Dean, liked how his players found a way to succeed.
“It’s the mark of a good team that when you don’t have you’re A game, when it’s scrambly and chaotic, that you’re able to stick with it,” Taylor noted. “Just bend but don’t break. We’ll be thankful for the two points later in the season.”
After failing to convert on a number of chances in the opening 20 minutes, the Soo got rolling early in the second.
Just 25 seconds in, Fantino outbattled an IceDogs player for the rebound of an Andrew Gibson shot in the slot. The veteran winger rifled a beautiful blast past netminder Marcus Vandenberg high to the blocker side to make it 3-2.
Just over three minutes later, Niagara was sloppy in its own zone, turning the puck over.
Justin Cloutier gobbled it up, fed Clattenburg alone in front and the winger beat Vandenberg through the five-hole to tie the game.
That chased Vandenberg, who was replaced by Flores.
Later in the middle frame, the IceDogs Bronson Ride was assessed a double-minor for spearing at 18:28.
Just three seconds later, Bryce McConnell-Barker won an offensive-zone draw back to Marco Mignosa, who quickly fed Arttu Karki at the top of the right circle. The first-year Greyhound wasted no time ripping a shot past Flores on the blocker side for his 14th goal and league-leading ninth with the man advantage.
Trailing 4-3, Niagara tied it early in the third when Evan Klein notched his second of the night.
At times late in the game the Hounds appeared to be holding on as the IceDogs carried the play.
“When they tied it up they did a good job of maintaining that momentum,” said Taylor. “We got running around and they were taking it to us for a little bit.”
The IceDogs opened the scoring when Ivan Galiyanov grabbed a Hounds clearing attempt at the point and fed Klein in front. He went glove side on Landon Miller to make it 1-0 at 3:40.
A turnover by the home side led to the tying goal. Mignosa fed Owen Allard who scored on the glove side at 14:13.
Just over two minutes later, with the Hounds on a power play, the IceDogs scored short-handed. A Soo turnover in the offensive zone allowed Galiyanov to skate in alone and score on the stick side.
Just 1:16 after that, Kevin He departed the penalty box, blew down the left wing, cut in and slipped it home through the five-hole to make it 3-1 Niagara.
Taylor said he didn’t consider pulling Miller, saying he felt it was important for the young goalie to “work through it. I don’t think he liked a couple of their goals, but he needed to find a way to grind out a result.”
The coach also spoke of how he loved the way the trio of rookie Tate Vader between Fantino and Alex Kostov performed.
“They were our best and most-effective line,” he added.
As for the Kitchener clash, Taylor spoke of the importance of his team displaying both physical and emotional energy on Sunday.
“It’s a good measuring stick for both teams,” he added.
“Definitely a big game,” agreed Clattenburg. “We want to show how good a team we are. We have to prove we can beat the top teams every night.”
Notes:
Overage forward Brenden Sirizzotti missed the game with an upper body injury. Dean’s Canada White team won the gold medal on Saturday, defeating Team USA 2-1 in overtime at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge on Prince Edward Island.
Saturday’s clash was Ben Boudreau’s second as Niagara’s head coach. He replaced Ryan Kuwabara, who was fired on Friday.
