Clark’s pair gives 67’s big lift in key matchup
Of Wendel Clark’s 330 goals in the National Hockey League, there were three scored on behalf of the Toronto Maple Leafs and two for the New York Islanders in games at what was then the Ottawa Civic Centre.
It’s unlikely any of them were as pretty as the two that Clark’s son, Kody, scored Friday night.
The younger Clark produced a highlight-reel individual effort early in the first period and capitalized on a nifty three-way passing play late in the second to lead the Ottawa 67’s to a 3-2 victory against the Oshawa Generals in an Ontario Hockey League game at what is now TD Place arena.
Esthetics aside, it was a key result for the 67’s (21-30-6), who ended a seven-game winless streak and moved two points ahead of the North Bay Battalion for the eighth and final playoff spot in the OHL’s Eastern Conference with 11 games remaining.
“It feels good, obviously,” said Clark, whose two-goal outburst increased his previous rookieseason total by 50 per cent.
Artur Tyanulin also scored for the 67’s, who now face similarly significant afternoon home games Saturday against the Hamilton Bulldogs and Sunday against the Niagara IceDogs, but also incurred the wrath of head coach Jeff Brown by taking three minors and a 10-minute misconduct penalty late in the second period and early in the third.
It didn’t help Tyanulin’s cause, either, that he failed to convert on a penalty-shot opportunity late in the final period, when the 67’s were hanging on for dear life to a one-goal advantage.
“I didn’t breathe the last 10 minutes,” Brown said. “We tried everything we could to get them back in the game. “Hey, we won.” Allan McShane replied twice for the Generals (34-18-5), who remained third in the conference standings going into home games against the Kitchener Rangers and Peterborough Petes.
Tyanulin gave the 67’s an early lead with his 22nd goal of the season, just 70 seconds into the opening period. Generals netminder Jeremy Brodeur stopped an initial shot by Austen Keating, but Keating poked at the puck just as Brodeur tried to cover it in his crease and it rolled toward Brodeur’s right foot before Tyanulin pulled it free and whipped it into the net.
It became 2-0 less than four minutes later, when Clark performed the ol’ do-si-do around Generals defenceman Matt Brassard just inside the blue line before snapping the puck over Brodeur’s stick hand for his fifth goal of the season.
McShane got one back for the Generals before the first intermission, pouncing on a turnover and beating 67’s defenceman Kevin Bahl down the ice before flipping the puck past Olivier Lafrenière on the stick side.
The second period featured little in the way of scoring opportunities, but the 67’s made the best of the one they did have. Keating and Tyanulin combined to set up Clark for a short tap-in past the left pad of Brodeur, whose goaltending father, Martin, beat the expansion-era Ottawa Senators all four times he played for the New Jersey Devils in the old Civic Centre. gholder@postmedia.com Twitter.com/HolderGord