6-4 win at Sault Ste. Marie keeps Otters on top
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario – Two goals from Dylan Strome lifted the Otters to a 6-4 victory over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds on the road Friday night. The win bumps the Otters three points ahead of Sault Ste. Marie for first place in the Western Conference standings.
The matchup between the current Western Conference powerhouses opened up quickly for the Otters. While the Greyhounds might have put up the first shot on goal, Nick Betz scored the first goal on the Otters’ second shot for his fifth goal of the season. Alex DeBrincat extended his new point streak to three games with the assist on Betz’s goal. Sault Ste. Marie had several big chances throughout the period including a three-on-two opportunity, but Devin Williams stood tall and turned the puck away from the net to keep the Greyhounds off the board.
Williams started off the second with another big save on Sault St. Marie before the puck headed towards the Greyhounds’ zone. Strome skated in and put the puck on the net to give the Otters a two-goal lead with an assist to Patrick Fellows. The Greyhounds continued to pressure Williams before Patrick Murphy took a slashing minor, giving Sault Ste. Marie their first power play of the game. Connor McDavid had a huge chance shorthanded, but was pulled down by the Greyhounds’ defense, ending the rush.
With Murphy out of the box, Strome had a chance to make it 3-0, but Brandon Halverson made a big save to keep Strome from his second goal of the period. After a small skirmish, DeBrincat also took a slashing minor, putting the Greyhounds back on the man advantage. A minute and a half into the penalty, Michael Bunting put Sault Ste. Marie on the board and cut the Otters’ lead in half. The second period had less than a minute on the clock when Trent Fox gave the Otters a huge 3-1 lead with his second goal of the season from Quentin Maksimovich.
Momentum was already swinging in the Otters’ direction when Moore took his second penalty of the game with four seconds left in the second to give Erie one minute and 56 seconds with the man advantage to start the third. The Otters failed to score on the first penalty, but Gustav Bouramman took a holding penalty to put Erie right back on the power play. Strome scored his second goal of the game with a wide-open net to give the Otters a 4-1 lead.
Sault Ste. Marie quickly had another power play opportunity with Jesse Saban in the box. Just over halfway through the penalty kill, Kurtis MacDermid was called for tripping, giving the Greyhounds a 5-on-3 advantage. Just as Saban left the box, Darnell Nurse cut the lead in half to make it 4-2. Taylor Raddysh quickly found himself all alone in front of Halverson 19 seconds later, and his fifth goal of the season gave the Otters another three-goal lead.
Jean Dupuy’s fourth of the season cut the lead to 5-3 with just under five minutes to go as Sault Ste. Marie was preparing to pull Halverson. Betz was called for hooking at 17:36 and the Greyhounds headed back to the power play to finish the game. Halverson headed for the bench for a 6-on-4 advantage with under a minute to go. With the net empty, McDavid shot and scored shorthanded for one last three-goal lead with 45 seconds left. Colton White rounded out the scoring for the Greyhounds less than 10 seconds later, bringing the final score to 6-4.
Strome (two goals) and McDavid (one goal) both continue their 11-game point streaks with at least one point in every game thus far. Murphy’s two assists brought him to a career-high nine points. DeBrincat (13G, 8A) now leads rookie scoring by a 10-point margin with 21 points.
The Otters head to Sudbury Saturday night for their second and final meeting with the Wolves at 7 p.m.
The Iron Workers Local Union No. 3 Hardest Working 3 Stars of the Game:
3. Blake Speers – 1G, 2A
2. Taylor Raddysh – 1G
1. Dylan Strome – 2G
