Ottawa 67’s one step behind in home loss to Frontenacs

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Special to the Ottawa Sun

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The Ottawa 67’s got four goals from four different scorers on Saturday afternoon, but the Kingston Frontenacs seemed to be ahead every step of the way, handing the home team a 7-4 defeat.

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It was a season-high crowd inside The Arena at TD Place, with 6,291 in attendance.

A furious first period saw Nic Whitehead, and Will Gerrior give the 67’s leads of 1-0, and 2-1, respectively, but Kingston ended the opening frame with a 4-2 lead, and never looked back.

Despite the scoreline, Max Donoso made some brilliant saves for Ottawa, stopping 29 shots.

Chase Yanni, playing in his second OHL game, tallied his first point when he put the puck on net and Whitehead banged it home to open the scoring just 1:52 in.

From there, Kingston went on a four-minute powerplay, where Gabriel Frasca, and Roman Schmidt each converted, but the goals were split by a beautiful Gerrior shorthanded marker. ‘The Generator’ pounced on a loose puck, skated in on a two-on-one, and ripped a shot over the shoulder of JJ Salajko.

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Matthew Soto scored a pair of his own before the period was out, however, making it 4-2 Kingston after 20 minutes.

Early in the second, Christopher Thibodeau made it 5-2, before a quick shot by Henry Mews fooled Salajko, cutting the lead to 5-3.

Putting to rest any notions of a comeback, though, Thibodeau scored again before the period was out, and Jacob Battaglia dealt the backbreaker in the early third.

It wasn’t all negative for the 67’s in the final frame, however. In the late going, standout 16-year-old import Kimi Körbler was hauled down on a breakaway, and on the ensuing penalty shot, the Davos, Switzerland product tallied his first OHL goal with a slick shot to complete the scoring.

The 67’s get an immediate chance for redemption on Monday afternoon, visiting these same Frontenacs at 4 p.m.

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