Tough Knight for IceDogs
Overtime continues to be a sore spot for the Niagara IceDogs.
The IceDogs dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the London Knights in Ontario Hockey League action Thursday night at the Meridian Centre, the third time this young season the team has come out on the wrong end of the score in extra time.
The IceDogs dropped their season opener 4-3 to Mississauga in OT and last week lost to the Erie Otters in extra time by the same score.
“It’s been three times where we’ve held all the possession and got nothing out of it and obviously they get one chance and they score,” IceDogs coach Daniel Fitzgerald said.
London won the game when a misguided drop pass turned the puck over to London’s Logan Mailloux who went in on a breakaway and beat former Knight Owen Flores just over a minute into OT.
“It was a tough play to the middle we shouldn’t make,” Fitzgerald said. “We run into each other but we need to have more of an attack mentality.
“It’s tough on three on three. I like that we have the puck a lot but we want to get wins.”
The IceDogs had trouble generating offence, particularly in the first two periods.
“We put our focus on the defensive side of the puck and they did a really good job of clogging up the middle,” Fitzgerald said. “It was tough to get through there. You weren’t going to be able to skate through anything so we just had to keep pounding the stone, putting pucks back and going to get them.
“We have to be comfortable playing tight games. We’re OK with that.”
Flores had an eventful night versus his former club, getting into a pair of skirmishes versus Landon Sim and Grimsby’s Luca Testa that resulted in a pair of minor penalties for the Niagara backstop.
“We don’t want to kill those penalties,” Fitzgerald said. “Let’s keep the fire to stopping pucks and to the skaters winning battles and being hard to play against. We don’t need to be killing too many penalties.”
The Knights scored a pair of power play goals, one that appeared to be as the result of a high stick.
“Our kill has been really good lately. What we thought was a high stick was a tough one to swallow and the first one we just have to be better. Even O would probably want that one back but he’s been fantastic and we couldn’t have asked anymore out of him tonight,” Fitzgerald added.
The IceDogs dropped to 3-5-3 with the loss and have gone four games without a win.
“We want to stay neutral,” Fitzgerald said. “We can’t be too high at any point if we get big wins or we can’t get too low.
“This one is going to leave a sour taste in our mouth but we’re right back on the horse tomorrow. We’re already working on the pre-scout for Windsor. We’re moving on. We have a job to do. We know what that job is. All those players know what their job is. Just keep going and we’re going to be just fine.”
London’s Sam Dickinson was a target of the fans, being booed consistently when he handled the puck. The big rearguard was the IceDogs first draft choice last season but did not report and was dealt to the Knights. The 16-year-old native of Toronto has two goals and six points in nine games and was paired with St. Catharines native Connor Federkow. Federkow, 19, has an assist in six games.
Testa, who helped the St. Catharines Falcons to a Sutherland Cup last season, has a goal and three points in six games.
Ice cubes: Anthony Agostinelli, Andrew Wycisk and Rodwin Dionicio were scratched for the IceDogs . . . Isaiah George, Michael Levin, Alec Leonard, Kaeden Johnton, Mathieu Paris and Ruslan Gazizov did not dress for the Knights . . . Jacob LeBlanc and Sim dropped the gloves for a spirited tilt in the first period.
Niagara’s Brenden Sirizzotti and London’s Logan Mailloux.
Knights 3 IceDogs 2 OT
Niagara IceDogs: Pano Fimis (6); Brenden Sirizzotti (3).
London Knights: Sean McGurn 2 (3, 4); Logan Mailloux (2).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara on Brett Brochu (27), by London on Owen Flores (28); Power plays: Niagara 0/3, London 2/4; Penalty minutes: Niagara 15, London 13.
Attendance: 3,960.
On deck: The IceDogs are at home against Windsor Friday for Halloween night.
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