Spirit snatch elusive first victory of 2016-17 season 2-1 over Ottawa

Mitchell Stephens scores the game winner with his first goal of the season....

    icon Oct 08, 2016
    icon 0 Comments
The Saginaw Spirit (1-5-0-1) finally got the monkey of its back earning its first win of the 2016-17 Ontario Hockey League season 2-1 over the Ottawa 67's at the TD Place Arena in Ottawa, ON. this afternoon. 
 
Spirit captain Mitchell Stephens (second round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2015 NHL draft) had impeccable timing for his first goal of the 2016-17 OHL season. 
 
Stephens scored the game winning goal at 15:37 of the third period to break a 1-1 tie, giving the Spirit the lead for good. Filip Hronek and Matthew Kreis assisted on the goal. 
 
Brady Gilmour got the Spirit off to an early lead, scoring his third goal of the season at 15:56 of the first period for an early 1-0 lead. Kris Bennett and Hayden Hodgson assisted on the Gilmour goal. 
 
Goal tending proved to be the difference in the game this afternoon. For Saginaw, New Jersey Devils draft pick Evan Cormier kept the Spirit in the game stopping 23 of the 24 shots he faced. 
 
Ottawa goal tender Olivier Lafrenier stopped 25 of the 27 shots he faced in net for the 67's today. 
 
The Saginaw power play/penalty kill is still something left to be desired, however, the Spirit still managed to come away with the win. Saginaw was 0 for 3 on power play opportunities while allowing Ottawa to score on 1 of its 3 power plays. 
 
The Spirit are off until Friday when they will travel to the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener, ON. to take on the Kitchener Rangers (3-1-0-1) before returning to the Dow Event Center Saturday night to host the Mississauga Steelheads (2-4) for a 7:05 pm face off. 

Share on:

Comments (0)

icon Login to comment