He does it again for IceDogs
You can only keep a good man down so long.
For two periods Kevin He wasn’t his usual self, but after a chat with Niagara IceDogs head coach Ben Boudreau, the veteran sniper turned his game around in astounding fashion in the third period.
He scored two goals less than two minutes apart to tie the game, then set up the game winner in overtime as the IceDogs rallied for a 5-4 overtime win over the Ottawa 67’s in Ontario Hockey League action Thursday night in St. Catharines.
“It’s a huge win for us,” He said. “It shows the effort from the guys. A comeback win in the third period, that shows what we’re made of.”
He now leads the OHL with nine goals and 18 points in seven games.
“I’m just trying to show my leadership and do what I can to help the team win,” He said.
Boudreau loved the way He responded after a sub-par first 40 minutes.
“There’s a fine line of trying to do it all yourself and wanting to do it by yourself and you need your teammates to get you in those positions,” Boudreau said. “To be honest, I pulled Kevin in with his line after the first and second intermission. I didn’t love him through two periods, but at the end of the day, game breakers will do just that, break the game wide open.”
Boudreau tipped his cap to the 67’s, who managed to keep He in check early.
“He got stunned in the first two periods. I thought they did a great job of taking him away but he found a way to crack it open at the end.”
The IceDogs trailed 4-1 in the third and appeared to be headed to their second loss of the season before a wild comeback to improve their record to 6-1.
He set up the winner when he was hauled down on a breakaway early in overtime but managed to slide the puck to Jack Brauti, who fired home the winner, setting off a huge celebration.
“You’re always going to be happy with a win no matter how it comes,” Boudreau said. “When you win, you feel pretty good. But the way it happened, I’d much rather see a group of players believe in themselves all the way to the end. I thought we played 60 minutes all the way to the end.
“Now, not every picture painted is a Picasso, but for us the result is exactly what we came here for. So, no matter how it happened, I thought the way we played tonight, we didn’t play with a lead the entire game until the final game winner. So, resiliency all the way to the end and there’s a lot of buzz in that room right now.”
The IceDogs trailed 2-1 after two and had trouble getting into any type of groove after being called for the first seven penalties of the game.
“Your top guys are playing too much and your bottom end guys aren’t playing enough and now you have a hot and cold mixture,” Boudreau said. “You want to find some rhythm to the game and I didn’t think we found it.”
Boudreau was clearly irritated on the bench and let his feelings be known to officials Mike Cairns and Ryan Harrison.
“I think our big bugaboo that we’re looking at is having the same call go both ways, understanding what the margin is and going inside. I just thought that was the frustrating thing, that the same call on us wasn’t the same on them, but we found a way to win at the end and I’m sure Ottawa wasn’t too happy with the refereeing in the third with the amount of power plays we ended up getting,” Boudreau said.
Niagara rookie Max Crete continued his impressive play scoring another goal to give him five in six games.
STATS PACK
IceDogs 5 67’s 4 OT
Niagara’s Kevin He and Ottawa’s Luca Pinelli
Niagara IceDogs: Kevin He 2 (8, 9); Max Crete (5); Ivan Galiyanov (2); Jack Brauti (1).
Ottawa 67’s: Luca Pinelli (6); Will Gerrior (4); Jack Dever (2); Chase Yanni (1).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara on Jaeden Nelson (44), by Ottawa on Charlie Robertson (29); Power plays: Niagara 1/6, Ottawa 2/8; Penalty minutes: Niagara 18, Ottawa 14.
Attendance: 2,774
Next up: The IceDogs head to Kitchener Friday and are back home Sunday against Kingston at 2 p.m.
Ice cubes: Owen Flores (suspended 3 of 4), Gavin Bryant, Darcy Dewachter, Mathieu Paris and Charlie Hotles did not dress for the IceDogs . . . Collin MacKenzie, Kimi Körbler and Caeden Kelly were scratched for Ottawa.
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