67’s stun surging Attack with wild third-period comeback
With a grin from ear to ear and blood seeping from a cut on his upper lip, it was difficult to tell what Sasha Chmelevski was more proud of.
It seemed almost a little old hat that the Ottawa 67’s offensive catalyst had just capped a wild and stunning four-goal third-period rally with his 11th and 12th goals in his past 12 games to smash the Owen Sound Attack’s six-game winning streak. The victory Sunday at The Arena at TD Place gives the 67’s their first four-game winning streak of the season.
The cut, on the other hand, was graphic evidence of a game-saving stop Chmelevski made with his face in front of the 67’s net in the dying minutes of the game, just moments after netminder Olivier Tremblay had made a thrilling save of his own off the side of his head — easily the most painful of the 41 he made on the afternoon.
Both appeared briefly stunned by their different styles of shot blocking, though both got right back into the play.
“We played awesome and if I need to stop a couple more with my face, I will,” said the red-hot San Jose Sharks draft pick, who isalsoonarunoffourconsecutive multi-point games.
“When I heard the guys cheering me, it kind of dulled the pain.”
Already in deep against a fearsome Attack squad coached by Todd Gill, who grew up in Cardinal, Ont., the 67’s seemed dead to rights after 40 minutes, firing blanks at their former teammate Olivier Lafreniere.
Lafreniere returned to Ottawa on a six-game winning streak and while he was shutting the door, Owen Sound built a 3-0 lead on goals by Vegas Golden Knights first-rounder Nick Suzuki, Brett McKenzie and Aidan Dudas.
If the 67’s seemed a little tardy returning to the ice for the third, they wasted no time getting back to work once they got out there.
Tye Felhaber cued the comeback by hitting the 20-goal plateau for the first time since his first season in the Ontario Hockey League, beating Lafreniere just 30 seconds in.
“I knew going in the period that we’d start out four-on-four and that I would have a little more time if I could use my speed,” Felhaber said.
Just 1:09 later, the reliable Mitchell Hoelscher stepped out of the penalty box, took a long pass from Jacob Cascagnette and skated in all alone to beat Lafreniere, and suddenly it was game on.
Chmelevski tied it at 5:49, then capped it with his fourth gamewinner of the season at 8:42 on a wrister from the boards that Lafreniere still hasn’t seen.
That made it four goals by the 67’s in a span of just 8:12 and from that point on the 67’s dug in and Tremblay slammed the door shut.
“That’s one of the best games I’ve ever been involved in,” Tremblay said of his 18th win. “Itjustgoestoshowwecanbeat anybody.
“We knew something was going to happen (in the third). I felt a spark in the room, I really felt a little something, and it happened.”
Chmelevski said he, too, felt something after 40 minutes.
“I don’t know if anyone really said something, but we joke about having a switch,” said the game’s first star. “We talk about having been there ( behind) before.
“It was like this was not a game we were only going to make a comeback in. It was like we’re going to come back and win it.”