IceDogs salvage point in Erie
Ben Jones had a goal and two assists Saturday night as the visiting Niagara IceDogs lost 5-4 in overtime against the Erie Otters. Photo by OHL IMAGES.
The Niagara IceDogs erased a three-goal deficit to escape with a point in a Saturday night road tilt against the Erie Otters in Ontario Hockey League action.
Trailing 4-1 after the first frame, the IceDogs tied it at 4-4 after two periods. After a scoreless third period, Taylor Raddysh won it for the Otters (3-6-1) with 1:19 left in overtime.
“Whenever you battle back, it kind of becomes a new game and in the heat of the moment you definitely want to win,” IceDogs head coach Billy Burke said. “We had a chance to win at the end of regulation and had a couple of good chances early in overtime.”
Burke described the game as a gutsy comeback but hopes his team learned a lesson about its play in the first period.
“We weren’t really ready to go and they gave it to us early, but the guys were able to rally and grab us a point,” he said. “Three out for four points (on the weekend) in the grand scheme of things against a non-conference opponent, we will look back on and be happy.”
Burke pulled starter Stephen Dhillon, who came into the game with a 6-1 record and 2.68 goals against average, after the fourth goal in the first period, but the deficit certainly wasn’t Dhillon’s fault.
“He was getting hung out to dry and you have to give Erie credit. They came out flying and the travel kind of caught up to our guys,” Burke said. “Steve is obviously our best player and a star and I had already burned a time out. I had to do something to shake it up.”
In stepped Colton Incze and he held Erie scoreless until late in overtime.
“I thought Colton did an outstanding job and I am happy for him,” Burke said. “I’m happy the boys rallied to come back and it showed a lot of heart.”
With the overtime loss, the IceDogs record sits at 6-2-1, including an impressive 4-1-1 mark on the road.
“It’s tough to go into another team’s building and win games and the fact that we have had a lot of success on the road early is great,” Burke said. “The guys buy in, we play a pretty good team game and team defence when we are playing well. That helps a lot.”
He has no real explanation for the road success.
“I think the guys like winning and wherever we are and whoever we are against, we feel like we have a chance.”
Niagara’s offence was again led by Ben Jones and Akil Thomas. Jones (6-6-12) had a goal and two assists to move into a tie for 14th in league scoring while Thomas (5-8-13) netted a goal and added a helper to move into a tie for eighth in scoring.
“They are our top two centremen and the fact that we were able to split them up this year and put them on different lines is a great asset for us,” Burke said. “You want to be good in net, good on D and good down the middle and we feel we have a lot of the boxes checked off.”
But Thomas and Jones are more that just scorers.
“They take pride in their defensive play, they are both solid two-way guys and they are earning it and doing it the right way,” Burke said.
Kirill Maksimov also had a goal and an assist for Niagara while Matthew Philip potted his second goal of the season and Elijah Roberts added a pair of helpers.
Raddysh finished with a pair of goals for the Otters and singles were netted by Joseph Mack, Ivan Lodnia and Josh Wainman.
Niagara escaped the weekend without any injuries of consequence and everyone should be ready to go when the IceDogs host Mississauga Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Meridian Centre.
