Otters lose to IceDogs, 5-2
Slow starts have been the Achilles Heel for the Otters throughout the first half of the season.
Wednesday was no different for Erie, as it surrendered two quick goals for the Niagara IceDogs and just couldn’t recover during a 5-2 win in front of 2,265 at Erie Insurance Arena.
“We didn’t start out real well,” said Erie head coach Robbie Ftorek, who is in his fifth full season at the helm. “We weren’t moving our feet and we have to move our feet to be successful. I liked the way we competed, but it wasn’t enough.”
The loss snapped the Otters’ two-game winning streak and was their third straight loss dating back to last season against the IceDogs. It also prevented Erie from earning its first three game win streak since the end of the 2010-2011 season, when they won eight in a row
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“Obviously, when you go down early it’s hard to come back,” said defenseman Jimmy McDowell, who finished the game with a plus/minus rating of -2. “We’re a pretty young team, and we’re still learning how to win.”
Erie had its chances Wednesday night. The club has shown that it won’t go down without a fight. After Dallas Stars prospect Brett Ritchie and Carter Verhaeghe staked Niagara a 2-0 lead after the first period, Erie would get within one goal in the second period – a theme they would repeat several times throughout the course of the night.
Connor McDavid deflected a Troy Donnay shot from the point for his 12th goal of the season to make it a 2-1 game.
And when Steven Shipley – the game’s No. 1 star – increased the Niagara lead back to two goals, Connor Crisp rifled a wrist shot past former Otter Chris Festarini to once again pull the Otters back within one heading to the third period.
Afterwards, Ftorek praised his team’s effort through two periods.
“Once we got everybody going, we were playing pretty well,” he said. “I thought we had great intensity.”
But Mitchell Theoret’s goal 33 seconds into the final period proved to be the backbreaker for the Otters (6-12-1-2).
After that, Niagara showed its best New Jersey Devils impersonation as they locked down the neutral zone and made life miserable for Erie to get anything going in the offensive zone. The defense, led by Dougie Hamilton, arguably the best defenseman in junior hockey, limited the Otters to just seven shots on goal in the final 20 minutes. Erie was outshot 32-22 in the game.
Erie pulled its goalie with more than 1:30 to play in third, but couldn’t beat Festarini, who despite allowing two goals was hardly pressured throughout the night.
The IceDogs did tack on a goal with the empty net as Ryan Strome, a New York Islanders prospect, scored with five seconds left to close out the scoring and secure the 5-2 win.
The line of Strome, Ritchie and Theoret may just be the best in the OHL this season. And Wednesday, they were definitely the best on the ice for either team. The trio collected six points, two from Strome to increase his league-best points total to 39, four better than Ritchie.
Erie will hit the road for a game against the Kitchener Rangers on Friday before returning home with a clash against Midwest division rival Guelph on Saturday, which is Connor McDavid Poster Night. Friday’s game is slated for 7:30 p.m., while Saturday will be a 7 p.m.
The trip to Kitchener will be Erie’s third road game in just less than a month as the schedule has been home-heavy since opening the season with five straight away from Erie Insurance Arena.
“We haven’t played on the road in a long time,” Ftorek said. “We have to go into (Kitchener) and we have to be smart. They have some good players and it’s going to be a fast game so we are going to have to do everything at a fast tempo.”
Locastro-Bonini Insurance Three Stars of the Game
No. 1 Star – Steven Shipley, Niagara – game-winning goal, one assist
No. 2 Star – Brett Ritchie, Niagara – one goal, two assists
No. 3 Star – Carter Verhaeghe, Niagara – one goal, one assist
