Storm rally to slip by Bulldogs in shootout in Brantford
BRANTFORD – The Guelph Storm spotted the Brantford Bulldogs a four-goal lead, then rallied for a 5-4 victory in a shootout in Ontario Hockey League play Wednesday at the Brantford Civic Centre.
Brantford scored the lone goal of the first period before adding three goals in a span of three minutes and 48 seconds before the second period was eight minutes old.
However, the Storm started their recovery with three goals in the final seven minutes of the second to cut the gap to a single goal.
They pulled even early in the third. A five-minute overtime period failed to break the tie, but Jett Luchanko won it for Guelph when he scored the lone goal of the mandatory three-round shootout.
Braeden Bowman and Max Namestnikov scored twice apiece in regulation time for the Storm while Luchanko had three assists. Michael Buchinger had two and Brayden Hislop and Jake Karabela had one apiece.
Jorian Donovan scored two goals 53 seconds apart for Brantford while Nick Lardis and Luca Testa also scored. Calvin Crombie had two assists while single assists were awarded to Donovan, Cole Brown, Testa, Noah Nelson, Marek Vanacker and Patrick Thomas.
The Storm won despite being outshot 41-18 including a 26-8 advantage for Brantford in the opening two periods. Guelph went 2-for-3 on its power play while the Bulldogs went 1-for-7.
Brayden Gillespie had 37 saves for the Storm while David Egorov had six saves for Brantford until being replaced by Matteo Drobac after Guelph’s tying goal at 2:17 of the third period. Drobac had seven saves the rest of the way, including the overtime period.
The Storm improves its record to 9-4-0-0 to move into a three-way tie for first place in the Western Conference with the Kitchener Rangers (also 9-4-0-0) and Soo Greyhounds (9-5-0-0). They’re followed by the Sarnia Sting (8-5-0-0), London Knights (7-4-0-1), Flint Firebirds (6-6-1-0), Owen Sound Attack (6-6-1-0), Erie Otters (4-7-2-0), Saginaw Spirit (4-6-0-1) and Windsor Spitfires (3-8-1-0).
Brantford is tied for eighth in the Eastern Conference at 4-6-1-1. They’re tied with the Oshawa Generals (5-7-0-0) and Kingston Frontenacs (5-8-0-0).
The Storm have two more road games this weekend as they’re to play the Ottawa 67’s (fifth in Eastern Conference at 6-4-1-0) at Ottawa’s TD Place Friday at 7 p.m. and the Frontenacs at Kingston’s Leon’s Centre Saturday at 7 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal