The Ottawa 67′s completed a perfect 3-for-3 weekend with a win over the Peterborough Petes.  This one wasn’t as dominant as the previous 2 (9-4 and 8-3 victories), but it was a solid test of the team’s ability to face some adversity and overcome it.  This one was a battle that was in doubt right up to the end.

Ottawa dominated the first period in terms of time of posession as well as shots on goal, but it was Kitchener that got on the board first, with Ryan Murphy continuing his hot hand by receiving  a pass from below the goal line and one-timing it past Petr Mrazek just over 5 minutes in.  About 4 minutes later, on an Ottawa power play, they evened the score.  Seconds after Cody Ceci’s shot hit the post, Tyler Toffoli deflected a shot in front of the net.  The shot was saved, but Toffoli was driving the net and put his own rebound home.  Two and a half minutes later, Steven Janes’ shot on a 2 on 1 was stopped, but Tyler Graovac was there to put home the rebound to give Ottawa the lead.  Through the first period, Ottawa outshot the Rangers 15-5.

Mrazek was much busier in the second, but it was Sean Monahan who extended the Ottawa lead.  The play began when Toffoli stripped the puck off a Ranger inside the Ottawa blue line, and was nearly tripped up but managed to hold his ground.  Toffoli carried it through the neutral zone and into the Rangers end.  With Dalton Smith driving to the net, Toffoli found Monahan trailing the play, and his wrist shot from the slot went top corner. A Kitchener power play converted a few minutes later, as Murphy’s point shot was stopped, but with Michael Catenacci standing in the crease behind Mrazek, Radek Faksa swooped in and put the rebound home to bring his team within one, which is where it stood after 40 minutes.

Rangers goalie John Gibson made the save of the game 4 1/2 minutes into the third when he robbed Smith with a 2 pad slide across the crease to take away a wide open net, allowing the Rangers to stay in the game.  Ottawa had another chance to go up by 2, but Mike Cazolla missed a tap in on a pass from Shane Prince.  With Monahan in the box for a check to the head, Kitchener did even the score when Andrew Crescenzi notced his 12th of the season.  Moments later, Toffoli sent a message as he absolutely smeared Brandon Lesway along the boards in front of the Ottawa bench.  Toffoli is not normally a physical player, but he had the hit of the game on that effort.  With just under 4 minutes left, Cody Ceci made a nice effort to block a clearing attempt, evaded the winger and carried it below the hash marks.  He threw the puck out front, and Shane Prince had a couple of whacks at it in the crease area.  The second attempt made it past Gibson to the back of the net, for the game winner. Ottawa patiently killed off the last 4 minutes and completed the weekend sweep, as well as sweeping the season series with the Rangers.

MY THREE STARS

3.  Radek Faksa – 1 goal, 1 assist for the Rangers’ top draft prospect

2.  Cody Ceci – 2 A for the leader of the Ottawa blue line

1.  Tyler Toffoli – 1G, 1A and the hit of the game

FROM MY PERSPECTIVE

I expected to see more overall ability from Ryan Murphy.  Perhaps it was from playing his third game in 3 days, but he gave up on a couple of backchecks on plays that got past him at the blue line. Murphy was Carolina’s first round pick last summer, and is a great skater.  He is also really, really good at distributing the puck, especially on the power play, but still needs work on his defensive game.

Shane Prince completed the weekend with 8 points and was +6 in the three games, which should put him in contention for OHL player of the week, of which he was runner up last week.  He has 19 points in 9 games this month and 22 points in 11 games since being cut from Team USA in December. His game winner was his 25th of the season, and matches his career high total set last season.

Toffoli’s 2 points gives him a 4 point lead on Tanner Pearson (who is playing the late Sunday game) for the OHL scoring race.  His 36th goal also puts him 4 ahead of London’s Seth Griffith for the league lead in goals.

For the second game in a row, the opposition has had players all over netminder Petr Mrazek.  It resulted in a goal tonight, and it was called once, but the officials need to do a better job letting Mrazek do his.

Good to see the third line continuing to chip in with a nice goal tonight.  If they can contribute a goal per game, with what the top 2 lines can do Ottawa  is going to be very tough to beat in a playoff series.

The 67′s are off  until Friday night, when they play a nationally televised game against the Sarnia Sting.  Note that the game time is changed from its usual 7:30 to 7:00 pm.