The teams skated on a scoreless opening forty minutes before an early third period powerplay goal by Beau Jelsma put the visitors up 1-0, starting a four-goal final frame for the Colts. The Frontenacs had eight penalties on the night in a key for the win for Barrie on three powerplay goals in the third. It marked the fourth time Kingston was shutout on the season. Jelsma added a second goal in the third to capture first star with Beau Akey and Chris Grisolia rounding out Barrie goals scorers.
Netminder Mason Vaccari was great in his 20th appearance for Kingston in his first start in six games keeping his club in the game with the rookie facing 45 shots in making 41 saves. Barrie’s’ Ben West got the start seeing 22 Kingston shots for the shutout and third star status.
Former assistant captain Braden Hache skated in his first game with the opposition at Leon’s centre, wearing #6, skating with LA Kings prospect Brandt Clarke in the top defensive Colts pairing, earning an assist. Former Colt defender Ian Lemieux did not dress due to injury for Kingston.
Frontenacs Gabriel Frasca battled Barrie forward, and brother, Jacob in a nod to the Family Day game with the pair taking the ceremonial faceoff, as did Jacob and former Frontenacs star Jordan Frasca had previously done. Jacob added an assist in the winning effort.
Vaccari made an excellent off a Tai York one-timed chance for Barrie just over three minutes after puck drop, but the rookie netminder was sharp on his first shot seen, making another on Frasca as the Colts jumped out to a 6-2 shot lead five minutes in.
Barrie had the games first man advantage with just over five minutes left in the opening stanza, but Kingston’s penalty killers held off the OHL’s fifth-ranked powerplay shotless helping send the teams to a 0-0 first intermission. Kingston has now allowed the least goals-against (42) in the OHL in first periods.
The visitors had a great one-timed chance stopped by Vaccari eight minutes into a tight checking start to the second frame, shortly before the Frontenacs went to second powerplay chance.
With 1:22 left in the powerplay, Chris Thibodeau was hit hard at the Barrie blueline culminating in a scrap between Fronts assistant captain Alec Belanger and Barrie’s Connor Plunnett. The teams skated four-on-four with Belanger receiving the extra two-minute instigator call. Barrie’s Beau Akey was robbed of a game-opening tally by the Kingston goaltender on one of 14 saves in the second period.
Vaccari continued his hot play as Barrie pushed the play on eleven consecutive shots after the Fronts had begun the frame with the first three shots on West in the Barrie net. The rookie netminder continued his solid play with another 10-bell save on York with 3:18 remaining in the frame to keep the game scoreless heading to the third frame with Barrie ahead 26-17 on the shotclock.
The Frontenacs took a 6-4-0-1 record to the beginning of a tied final period and fell behind 1-0 on an early powerplay marker after Kingston was called on their fourth penalty 32 seconds into the stanza. Beau Jelsma (23) opened the scoring at 1:05 with assists to Clarke and Frasca. Barrie now has a 24-7-3-2 record when scoring the games’ first tally.
Ethan Cardwell was stopped by Vaccari on a second consecutive Barrie powerplay in the opening 2:05 of the third before the 2-0 insurance goal by Barrie. Chris Grislia (8) was able to bury a loose puck in the Kingston crease with 11:00 minutes left on the clock as Barrie began to pull away adding two more tallies.
On a sixth man advantage for four-minutes, the Colts would go up for a 4-0 final score on a pair of powerplay goals 19 seconds apart with Jelsma (24) adding his second at 10:28, and Akey (9) at 10:47 on the 38th shot faced by the Kingston goalie. Hache received an assist on the fourth visiting tally for his first point against his old team.
Kingston faces-off against the Mississauga Steelheads on for their next game on Fri, Feb 24 at 7pm for Military Appreciation night.
Scorers:
BAR: Jelsma (23,24), Grisolia (8), Akey (9)
Powerplays:
KGN: (0/1)
BAR: (3/8)
You must be logged in to post a comment.