67’s jump into sixth with win over Colts

In a perfect world, the Erie Otters and Hamilton Steelheads could have helped the Ottawa 67’s go a long way to finally securing an Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Just the same, the 67’s can only control what they do and they had just enough to beat a dog-tired Barrie Colts team 3-1 on Sunday afternoon at The Arena at TD Place to post back-to-back wins for only the fifth time all season. They also jumped past the Sudbury Wolves into sixth place in the Eastern Conference with six games to go.

Sasha Chmelevski broke a 1-1 tie late in the second period and workhorse Austen Keating put things away with his 19th of the season 14 minutes into the third to carry the 67’s past a Colts team that didn’t arrive in Ottawa until 12 hours before puck drop after playing Saturday night in Peterborough.

Had it not been for 67’s netminder Leo Lazarev with 31 saves, the result could have been vastly different and the 67’s might have spent the week more worried about ninth place.

Lazarev was spectacular at times, and after back-to-back wins, he has earned the net for Thursday night on the road against the conferenceleading Petes.

The 67’s win coupled with a Sudbury Wolves loss in Windsor, a Niagara IceDogs upset win over Erie and a North Bay Battalion loss in a shootout to Hamilton leaves the East anything but settled just 13 days from the close of the regular season.

But the 67’s can relish sixth for a few days — one point ahead of Sudbury, two ahead of Niagara and four in front of North Bay — after winning two of three for a second straight weekend.

The weekend output sat well enough with 67’s head coach Jeff Brown. The methodology did not.

“Yeah, we won ... with our worst effort of the weekend,” Brown said, not buying it was his team’s third game in 48 hours. “Even if we do make the playoffs, with efforts like that, it’s going to be a quick exit.”

The 67’s were 0-for-5 on the power play and ended up minus-1 with the man advantage after Barrie’s Roy Radke scored short-handed 16 minutes into the second period after red-hot Mathieu Foget gave the 67’s a lead 12:41 in.

“In practice, our power play looks like the Harlem Globetrotters,” Brown said. “(Sunday) we looked like the Washington Generals. We have six more games to get prepared for what could be a great opportunity for us. Six games to rectify things. But that’s six tough games.”