The Kingston Frontenacs (11-9-1-1) won their second straight with a 6-2 win over the Sudbury Wolves (6-10-2-0) on Sunday afternoon at Sudbury Community Centre in the first of two consecutive games for the Black and Gold against their Eastern Conference counterparts. Ivan Zhigalov followed up a 44 save first star performance on Friday’s win over Soo with a stellar 49 saves for his sixth win and another starring performance. Defenceman Vann Williamson scored his first OHL goal adding an assist, Francesco Arcuri had three points netting a pair of powerplay tallies for a league-leading 18 goals, with rookie Gabriel Frasca, Owen Outwater, and Maddox Callens adding scores for the win to close out a five-game road stretch.
Linus Hemstrom and Quinton Burns had a pair of assists to give the Black and Gold five multi-point skaters on the day with Callens, Arcuri and Williamson. Kingston penalty killing units held the last place Wolves powerplay to no goals on three chances while scoring a pair on the man advantage to win the special team’s battle.
Wolves goalie Joe Ranger faced 13 Kingston shots before being relieved by Nate Krawchuk late in the second period after five goals against.
After making an OHL debut on Friday night, Vann Williamson (1) scored his first career tally to give the Fronts a 1-0 lead early with Quinton Burns assisting on Kingston’s first shot. The rookie buried a shot past the blocker of Ranger at 2:43.
It would be Kingston going up three strikes near the end of the opening frame. First, Francesco Arcuri (17) netted his first of two powerplay goals, for the 2-0 goal at 15:59 on the only man advantage for either side in the first. Linus Hemstrom setup Arcuri at the top of the circle joining Maddox Callens assisting. The OHL goal-leader slapped off a wicked one-timed shot for his seventh powerplay goal, past Ranger before a second quick strike to make it 3-0 heading to first intermission.
The third goal of the first came by Gabriel Frasca (2) scoring 46 seconds later to send the Fronts to the first intermission facing a club winless when trailing after twenty minutes. Arcuri earned a second point with the assist at 16:45 after exchanging a pass with Frasca to setup the rookie.
The Wolves came out strong in the middle session with a 17-1 shot lead through the first half, and 25-3 in the period. Sudbury’s last place powerplay had their first opportunity early in the second period that was called short on a Wolves penalty sending the teams to four aside before a second Kingston powerplay for 1:24.
Zhigalov was outstanding in the middle frame with the Wolves stopping 15 shots, including a nine-shot run, in the first 7:54 fending off a vigorous effort by the homeside. An unfortunate deflected puck off a Kingston defender was finally able to beat the Fronts goalie at 9:48 for a 3-1 score on the 19th shot of the period. Alex Assadourian (2) got credit for the strike just before a double minor penalty to Sudbury led to another Kingston goal less then a minute later.
Arcuri (18) scored his second powerplay marker of the day on the man-advantage for a 4-1 score at 10:45 to register a fourth multi-goal game on the season tying him for an OHL powerplay-goal lead (8). Burns and Hemstrom traded the puck to the Fronts points-leader each getting their second assists on the day with Burns tying for the team lead with 13 on the season.
Owen Outwater (6) beat Ranger on just the third Kingston shot in the frame with 2:17 to go off a mini rush shot high over the goalie for a 5-1 lead after 40 minutes. Williamson registered his first OHL assist for a multi-point second career game with Josh Currie adding a helper at 19:31 bringing Wolves backup Nate Krawchuk into the game in relief.
Kingston improved to a 7-1-1-0 record when leading after forty minutes adding another tally in the third. The Wolves ahead 36-13 on the shot clock after two periods, had another 10-1 shot run to open the third with Zhigalov continuing to frustrate Sudbury shooters.
Callens (5) made it 6-1, with a second point of the game, after burying a nifty pass from in close by Paul Ludwinski. Chris Thibodeau made a great play to steal the puck to Ludwinski for the second assist at 13:01.
In the last minute, David Goyette (12) added a second Wolves tally at 19:07, on the fifteenth shot of the third period, making it 6-2 final as Sudbury fell to 0-7-1-0 trailing after two periods.
Zhigalov made numerous save-of-the-week candidates in the 25-shot second period including an extended, diving paddle save off David Goyette from point blank range with 29 second left in the frame and starred again in the third for first star nomination for a second straight game.
The Wolves will make a stop in Peterborough on Thurs, Nov 24 before the rematch with Kingston on the Fronts next game on Fri, Nov 25.
Scorers:
KGN – Williamson (1), Arcuri (17,18), Frasca (2), Outwater (6), Callens (5)
SBY – Assadourian (2), Goyette (12)
Powerplays:
KGN – (2/4)
SBY – (0/3)
BMW of Kingston Hardest Worker:
Vann Williamson (1G,1A,+1)
Three Star Awards:
- Ivan Zhigalov KGN – (49 saves/51 shots)
- Francesco Arcuri KGN – (2G)
- Alex Assadourian SBY – (1G)
Fronts Notes:
- F Francesco Arcuri – extended to 3-gm pt streak (5G,2A)
- 17G – 1st OHL, 82 SOG – 3rd OHL, 8 PPG – T-1st OHL
- F Linus Hemstrom – extended to 3-gm pt streak (1G,3A)
- D Quinton Burns – extended to 2-gm pt streak (3A)
- F Maddox Callens – 3G in last 4 gms
- D Alessandro Petreccia – 1st OHL Goal, 1st multi-point game (1G,1A)
Team Stat Pack – GP (22) (11-9-1-1) 24 pts
Leaders:
Goals – Arcuri – 1st OHL (18), Soto, Hemström (7)
PPG – Arcuri (8), Soto, (3), Battaglia (2)
Assists – Burns, Hemström (13), Soto (12), outwater (11)
Points – Arcuri (25), Hemström (20), Soto (19)
PPP – Arcuri (11), Hemstrom (8), Soto (7)
SOG – Arcuri – 3rd OHL (84), Outwater (48), Hemström (40)
Plus/Minus – Outwater (+7), Burns (+6), McGowan, Schneider (+4)
PIMs – Burns (40), Haché (36), Budnick (33)
On The Front
Fans will want to be at Leon’s Centre, with the Frontenacs honouring the franchise’s roots on Friday, Nov 25, at 7:00 pm. Hosting a Canadians and Raiders Night-themed evening in a rematch of today’s game against the Sudbury Wolves, the Fronts will wear special 50th-anniversary jerseys for the game. The unique, game-worn jerseys will be available through auction. All proceeds go to the Canadian Cancer Society.
96.3 Big FM and 104.3 Fresh Radio are your exclusive home for play-by-play with Jim Gilchrist and Kingston Frontenacs Hockey! Fans can listen live to all the games at https://frontenacs.leanplayer.com/. Fans can also tune into the game at https://watch.chl.ca/ (subscription needed).
Fans are encouraged to follow the team’s social media channels on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for live updates!
All home game tickets are available online at www.ticketmaster.ca or by visiting the Leon’s Centre box office at 1 The Tragically Hip Way. The box office is open Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm and 2 hours before puck drop on home game days. Group tickets, Flex Packs and season ticket memberships are available at www.kingstonfrontenacs.com.
