67’s take down Wolves in overtime
Fans of the Buffalo Sabres were drooling on Sunday, at least the ones who took in the Ottawa 67’s matinee.
The 67’s collected a point in their 10th straight game (9-0-1) with a 4-3 overtime win over the Sudbury Wolves, but it was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen — the second-round pick of the Sabres in 2017 — who stole the show, making 45 saves in the Sudbury goal, including point-blank stops off Kody Clark and Marco Rossi in overtime.
He also stopped Austen Keating on a penalty shot in the first period after the 67’s forward was tripped on a breakaway by Peter Stratis.
Eventually Clark ended the game with a power-play goal 2:10 into the extra period on a nice three-way passing play set up by Rossi and Jack Quinn. The end result was an empty net for Clark to shoot at and there was nothing Luukkonen could do about it.
“I knew where the net was and Marco made a really nice play getting the goalie to drop. I pretty much had the wide-open cage,” Clark said.
The 67’s trailed 2-0 at one point and entered the third frame down 3-2. Merrick Rippon tied the game at 7:03 of the third period on a tip in front that bounced over the shoulder of Luukkonen.
“I watched him in the summer when he was playing for the Finland world junior team and he’s definitely a good goalie,” said Keating, who picked up an assist on the tying goal.
“We had to get into his eyes a little more going into the third period and overtime. I think in the first two periods we had a lot of shots, but we weren’t in his eyes, so he saw a lot of them. He obviously made some unbelievable saves, backdoor and stuff like that, but our goal in the third was a screen in front.”
The 67’s had the first nine shots of the game but Luukkonen stopped them all. The Wolves didn’t get their first shot on Cedric Andree in the Ottawa net until the eight-minute mark, but then scored on their third and fourth shots at 10:05 and 14:49.
Carson Macauley got the first one on a tip and David Levin got the second on another redirect in tight.
Blake Murray got one back for the 67’s late in the period on a cross-crease pass from Clark.
Levin scored his second of the game as he went post and in from the slot at 6:08 of the second period, but a shot hit Tye Felhaber’s skate and redirected past Luukkonen at 17:23 of the third.
The 67’s outshot the Wolves 4920, including 10-0 in overtime.
“There was no quit. I was really happy with the way we played from the second period on. The first period we were sluggish, the second period we were up and down, and in the third period we were in total control,” 67’s coach Andre Tourigny said.
The win was the third straight for the 67’s. The only blemish on their record over the past 10 games is a 3-2 overtime road loss to the Erie Otters on Oc. 20.
With a 12-3-1 record the 67’s are first in the overall standings. They have a 4-2-1 road record and will look to improve on that as they visit the Windsor Spitfires, Flint Firebirds and Saginaw Spirit next weekend.
They return home to face the Kingston Frontenacs for an 11 a.m. School Day game on Nov. 7.