Otters 5-0 to start the season for the first time in team history
Kitchener, Ontario – The Erie Otters made team history in their 8-3 victory Friday night in Kitchener, starting the season 5-0 for the first time. Alex DeBrincat and Connor McDavid both scored two goals, and Kyle Maksimovich scored his first OHL goal in the first half of a home-and-home with the Rangers.
Erie started off the night scoring the first goal for the first time this season. A check from behind penalty by Kitchener’s Brandon Robinson gave the Otters the man advantage, and DeBrincat put the puck behind Rangers net minder Matthew Greenfield for his fifth power play goal of the year. McDavid and Dylan Strome continued their scoring streaks, picking up assists on the play. McDavid gave Erie a 2-0 lead for his sixth goal of the season with help from Strome and, in his first game since returning from the American Hockey League, Kurtis MacDermid.
The Otters killed an interference penalty by Cole Mayo, but Ryan MacInnis put Kitchener on the board with Shaun Bily in the box serving a penalty for too many men on the ice. Maksimovich snapped the puck under the glove of Greenfield, his first OHL goal closing out the first period. Patrick Murphy and Troy Donnay – also in his first game back from the AHL – both picked up their first points of the season on the goal.
The second period started off with a bang with DeBrincat picking up his second goal of the night, quickly followed by an unassisted goal from Mason Marchment, both under 90 seconds in. Kitchener opted to switch out goaltender Dawson Carty for Greenfield after Marchment’s goal, but McDavid, who picked up another assist on DeBrincat’s goal, added another Otters goal about ten minutes later to make it 6-1. Donnay added a goal to his assist, before Brent Pedersen put Kitchener back on the board. It wasn’t 7-2 for long as Taylor Raddysh notched his third goal of the season from Marchment to put the Otters up 8-2.
Tensions overflowed after the Raddysh goal. 10-minute misconducts were handed out to Kitchener’s Liam Maaskant and Max Iafrate, as well as Erie’s Donnay and MacDermid. Coincidental minors came to Iafrate for roughing, as well as Erie’s Marchment for a check from behind to finish out the period.
While the third started off quietly, it wasn’t from a lack of effort. DeBrincat nearly had his first OHL hat trick, but was stopped on a huge save by Carty. With just over two minutes to go in the period, Frank Hora gave the Rangers their third and final goal on a tripping minor to Donnay.
With the win on the road, McDavid and DeBrincat both notch their seventh goals of the season, and Strome starts the year with three assists in all five games. McDavid and Strome now lead the league in points with 16, while DeBrincat leads in power play goals with five.
The Otters head home Saturday night to welcome the Rangers to Erie for the second half of the home-and-home at 7:00 p.m.
The Iron Workers Local Union No. 3’s Hardest Working 3 Stars of the Game:
3. Dylan Strome – 3A
2. Alex DeBrincat – 2G, 1A
1. Connor McDavid – 2G, 2A
