This one just wasn’t meant to be for the Owen Sound Attack.
Braeden Kressler hit the empty-net with 58 seconds remaining in the third period to cap a three point night, as the Flint Firebirds beat the Attack 4-2 in Game 7 of the Ontario Hockey League Western Conference quarterfinal Wednesday night.
Flint wins the best-of-seven 4-3, eliminating the Attack from the OHL playoffs.
“I’m so proud of these kids. Each and every one of them,” says Attack Head Coach Greg Walters. “Hockey’s a game of mistakes. We made a couple and a very good Flint team capitalized.”
Brennan Othmann, Ethan Keppen and Sahil Panwar also scored for the Firebirds, which won their first playoff series since moving to Flint in 2015.
Colby Barlow had both goals for the Attack – finishing with five goals in his first OHL playoff series.
The Attack took a 1-0 lead 5:05 into the first period, as Barlow took a pass from Fantino just outside the crease and had his initial shot on Luke Cavallin stopped before beating him on the backhand on the rebound.
Panwar drew the Firebirds even just over three minutes later, scoring on a breakaway short-handed with a deke to his backhand and then a shot past Nick Chenard.
Things stayed tied 1-1 until 13:58 of the second, when Kressler got a shot off on Chenard right off an offensive zone faceoff and then Keppen pounced on the rebound to put the Firebirds ahead 2-1.
Othmann’s goal came just 1:55 into the third period. Gavin Hayes was hauled down after a turnover inside the Attack blueline but got a shot off. Othmann fired the rebound past Chenard on the delayed penalty.
The Attack found some life past the midway mark of the third period. Just after killing off a four-minute penalty against Deni Goure, Barlow notched his second of the game, picking up a loose puck just outside the crease and firing past Cavallin to bring the Attack within one.
Owen Sound kept firing over the next five minutes, until Kressler made it a 4-2 game with an empty-netter with 58 seconds left.
Cavallin made 34 saves in the win, while Chenard stopped 31 taking the loss. Owen Sound outshot Flint 36-35 while going 0 for 1 on the power play; the Firebirds finished 0 for 5.
The Attack had only two power play opportunities over the final two games of the series – while Flint got 10 chances to work with the man-advantage in Games 6 and 7.
Flint moves on to face the Soo Greyhounds in the OHL Western Conference quarterfinal, after the Kitchener Rangers knocked out the London Knights with a 4-3 overtime win in Game 7 Wednesday night.
The loss for the Attack ends the 2021-22 – one that leaves most followers of the team optimistic moving forward after the young club with 12 rookies finished sixth in the western conference with a 34-26-5-3 regular season.
“To watch these kids develop … they all have skill coming from minor hockey but don’t really know how to play the team game, and a full 200-foot game,” Walters says. “We could have easily won this series against the second-best record in the conference. So, all the credit goes to (Attack General Manager Dale DeGray) … just an unbelievable year. Sad that it’s over.”
