’Dogs come back for fifth win a row
Stephen Dhillon backstops Niagara past Steelheads with another star of the game effort
A strong finish trumped a slow start when the Niagara IceDogs hosted the Mississauga Steelheads Thursday night at Meridian Centre in St. Catharines.
Mississauga, which came into the opening game of a home-and-home series trailing Central Division-leading Niagara by only two points in the standings with a game in hand, dominated play in the first period. Niagara was outshot 14-7 but, thanks to another firststar effort from IceDogs goaltender Stephen Dhillon, the hosts were only down 1-0 heading into the first break.
Niagara outshot the Steelheads 27-22 the rest of the way and, more importantly, scored three unanswered goals for a 3-1 victory.
With the comeback, the IceDogs extended their winning streak to five games and improved to 2-0-1-0 in the season series versus Mississauga.
“It certainly wasn’t our best game,” IceDogs head coach Billy Burke said. “I didn’t like our start, I thought we came out flat, I thought they really kind of gave it to us, especially in the first period.”
He praised his team for getting back into the game with a strong finish.
“It wasn’t our best game but, you’ve got to give them credit, good teams find a way to win, and that’s what happened tonight.
“It wasn’t picture perfect, but we’ll certainly take it.”
Dhillon demonstrated why he was selected the goaltender of the week by the Canadian Hockey League.
“Stevie was great all the way through,” Burke said. “This one could have been over early if Stephen wasn’t on his game.”
Mississauga, which came to St. Catharines hoping to end a three-game losing slide, took
a 1-0 lead 13:01 into the game when Cole Carter beat Dhillon five-hole on a rebound at close range.
Kyen Sopa rifled in a textbook cross-ice pass from Akil Thomas for his ninth goal of the season to put Niagara on the scoreboard 7:46 into the middle frame.
Shots on net were 13-7 in favour of the IceDogs.
Goals came in rapid-fire fashion for Niagara at the start of the third period. Forty seconds after Andrew Bruder got credit for a puck that deflected off a Mississauga defender’s skate, Ben Jones scored his sixth of the campaign to put Niagara up 3-1.
Dhillon made a pad save on Cole Schwindt’s penalty shot attempt late in the third period.
The insurance goal was only the second in the past nine games for Jones.
“I’m in a bit of a slump goal scoring wise,” he said. “But you just have to stay with it, keep trying to do the right things, keep putting in the effort.”
“If there is anything I can control it’s my effort every night, so as long as I’m putting that in that’s all I can really ask of myself.”
Jones said Niagara came into the game eager to set the tone for a home-and-home that wraps up Friday night in Mississauga.
“Tonight was a huge game, we kind of considered it a four-point game,” the third-year forward said.
“It was nice to increase that gap against them.”
Results from last night’s game were unavailable at press time, but a story is posted online at stcatharinesstandard.ca, niagarafallsreview.ca and wellandtribune.ca.
This was the third game of the season in the QEW rivalry and the first to be played in St. Catharines. Niagara edged Mississauga 8-6 in the season opener and lost 5-4 in overtime on Oct. 5, also on the road.
’Dog Biscuits: Oliver Castleman, F; Drew Hunter, D; Lleyton Moore, D; and Christian Sbaraglia, G; did not dress for the IceDogs … Mississauga has three NHL draft picks – Jacob Ingham, G, Los Angeles; Ryan McLeod, C, Edmonton; Own Tippett, F, Florida – while Niagara has five – Daniel Bukac, D, Boston; Ben Jones, C, Vegas; Ivan Lodnia, F, Minnesota; Kirill Maksimov, F, Edmonton; Akil Thomas, F, Los Angeles … IceDogs goaltender Christian Sbaraglia and forward Philip Tomasino are from Mississauga.
No one from Niagara is on the current Steelheads roster … Singing O Canada was the choir from Parnall Public School in St. Catharines