On a second straight night of hockey, the Kingston Frontenacs (23-21-1-2) battled the Barrie Colts (26-13-5-2) to an exciting 5-4 overtime win on Saturday night at Sadlon Arena in the second of a four-game season series and are now 2-0-0-0 against the Colts. Fronts team-goal leader, and first star, Chris Thibodeau scored the game-winner with a second straight multi-goal game to give the Fronts consecutive wins.
Ian Lemieux returned to Barrie with a pair of assists, joining Paul Ludwinski and Thibodeau with multi-point nights to help the Frontenacs move a point up on Hamilton for sixth place in the Eastern Conference race.
Rookie Mason Vaccari made an 18th appearance in goal for Kingston making 34 stops on 38 shots. Ben West saw eight shots in the Barrie net allowing four goals before being relieved. Anson Thornton was solid making 14 of 15 saves coming off the bench, becoming the eventual third star of the game.
Second star Paul Ludwinski, Thibodeau and Paul Hughes opened the game with a trio of goals for a 3-0 Frontenacs lead before the game was four minutes old on their first three shots, with Linus Hemstrom adding a 4-0 tally after twenty minutes. Barrie tallied twice in the middle frame to set up a 4-2 start of the third and added another pair including a last-minute tally to set up a 4-4 overtime before Thibodeau ended it with his second, and the 5-4 winner 90 seconds into the extra time.
Chicago Blackhawks prospect Paul Ludwinski (8) scored in the first minute registering Kingston’s OHL-leading 30th game-opening tally on the first of three Kingston goals. After a nice puck-dislodging check on a Barrie defender, the Fronts captain fired the puck past Ben West for the 1-0 goal 34 seconds after the opening face-off. Maddox Callens added an assist for points in consecutive games with Thibodeau’s first of three points on the night.
Kingston was up 2-0 for a second consecutive game striking on their second shot. After picking up a loose puck in the slot, Thibodeau earned a second point on the period whistling a shot for his team-leading 14th goal by the Barrie goaltender on his third goal in the last two games. Cal Uens earned the assist at 3:23.
Freshman Jacob Battaglia was hit hard by former Frontenac Braden Haché in the Colts zone right before the rookie forward was able to retrieve the puck setting up Paul Hughes (6) for a third tally on consecutive shots. The 3-0 goal at 3:55 into the game was also assisted by Ian Lemieux for a first point against his old team and second assist in consecutive games.
Linus Hemström (10) made it a 4-0 game with 4:30 remaining on Kingston’s eighth shot. Ludwinski got a second assist getting a pass to Hemström who spun around and fired a seeing eye shot finding its way through West in the Barrie net forcing the goaltender to be relieved by Anson Thornton. Mitchell Brooks added a helper.
In the second frame, Vierling had a breakaway from centre ice that Vaccari turned aside in the opening minute before Barrie went to their second powerplay and got on the board.
Beau Akey (8) got Barrie going in the contest on the powerplay at 3:41 with a shot from the circle, making it through a screened Vaccari and a 4-1 score. The Colts then got a 4-2 strike on an Ethan Cardwell (25) tally finishing a three-on-one rush at 10:58 to head to the third frame down 4-2 and a 5-11-1-1 record when trailing after forty minutes.
The Fronts added to a now 14-2-1-0 record to a start of a third frame with a lead, but the Colts continued to push for a comeback with a period-opening seven-shot run culminating in a third consecutive goal getting to a one-goal deficit at 5:03 on a 4-3 Cole Beaudoin (5) goal.
With the goaltender pulled for almost two minutes and heavy pressure, Barrie tied it 4-4 on an Evan Vierling (20) shot that beat a screened Vaccari sending Kingston to an eighth extra-time game.
It didn’t take long for the Black and Gold to earn their third overtime win on a beauty shot by Thibodeau (15) adding to his team-leading total, and second of the game, just 90 seconds into overtime for Kingston’s second straight win. Owen Outwater earned an assist with the former Colt Lemieux registering a second assist on the 5-4 winner.
Kingston continues a two-game road trip in North Bay tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 pm.
Scorers:
KGN: Ludwinski (8), Thibodeau (14,15), Hughes (6), Hemström (10)
BAR: Akey (8), Cardwell (25), Beaudoin (5), Vierling (20)
Powerplays:
KGN: (0/3)
BAR: (1/2)
BMW of Kingston Hardest Worker:
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