Niagara’s goalie has Hamilton’s number
They just can’t beat Stephen Dhillon.
The Niagara IceDogs netminder improved to 4-0 against the Hamilton Bulldogs with a 31-save performance at FirstOntario Centre Saturday, leaving the hosts frustrated, demoralized and, above all, puzzled in the wake of their last home game before the playoffs.
“I wish I had the answer,” Bulldogs coach John Gruden said when asked why his team has had so much trouble against the IceDogs and the Buffalo-born goaltender, in particular.
In five meetings this season, Hamilton has just one win against Niagara — and Colton Incze was between the pipes.
“I just think you’ve got to throw more pucks at the net, you’ve got to get more bodies in front of him,” he added.
Going into the 5-3 loss, Dhillon’s numbers against the Bulldogs were exceptional — a 3-0 record with a 1.95 goalsagainst average and a save percentage of 0.945.
It’s not like the 19-year-old had a light workload, either — Hamilton has outshot Niagara in every matchup so far.
“He’s a good goalie,” said forward Will Bitten, one of several Bulldogs who were stoned on breakaway chances.
“He does weird stuff to me, like tonight he did a Dominik Hasek. I didn’t know what was going on. He came out of his net and it was like a flying poke check. I’ve never seen that before.”
The fact that the Bulldogs continue to struggle against Dhillon and the IceDogs is crucial (more crucial, even, than their 6-4 rebound against the Oshawa Generals Sunday) for a couple of reasons. First, because they still need at least a point to clinch top spot in the conference and one of the two games left on their schedule is against Niagara, and second, because there is a very good chance they could find themselves facing the IceDogs in the conference semifinal a few weeks down the road.
“There’s a lot to come before then, but it’s certainly something that’s in the back of our minds,” IceDogs coach Billy Burke admitted. “You know, playoffs is a fresh start so the regular season, we’ll throw it right out the window, but if it gives us a bit of a mental advantage if we happen to play them, fantastic. If it ever goes down that road, though, we know it’s going to be a completely new series.”
On Saturday, the trouble started less than three minutes in when Ben Jones got behind the defence and lifted the puck over Kaden Fulcher to put the IceDogs on the board. After that, the teams exchanged goals — twice — before Akil Thomas put Niagara ahead by two on the power play early in the third. Arthur Kaliyev managed to pull the Bulldogs within one, but that was as close as they would come to a comeback. Sam Miletic sealed
the win with an empty netter.
The only way the Bulldogs could beat Dhillon was from close range, including Matt Strome’s two power play markers, which were both set up by Robert Thomas. Kirill Maksimov, Andrew Bruder and Akil Thomas had the other IceDogs goals.
A day later in Oshawa, Kaliyev scored twice and Riley Stillman, Robert Thomas, Ryan Moore and Will Bitten all had singles as the Bulldogs completed their six-game season sweep of the Generals.
Nick Wong, Kenny Huether, Jack Studnicka and Hayden McCool tallied for Oshawa, while Fulcher, who replaced Nick Donofrio in the Hamilton net after the Generals cut a three-goal deficit to one late in the second, earned the win.
“I’m focusing a lot on the positives because we created a lot,” Gruden said in the aftermath.
“I thought our game was pretty clean for the most part.
“But, I mean, when you have a 4-1 lead you can’t allow a team to come back in.”
The Bulldogs coach also said he’d like his team to limit the number of goals they’re giving up — 17 in their last three games alone — “but there are certain things you can’t control.”