The Kingston Frontenacs (12-9-1-1) won a nail biter with a 5-4 OT win over the Sudbury Wolves (7-10-3-0) on Friday night at Leon’s Centre. Matthew Soto scored twice including the OT winner, Francesco Arcuri scored a pair for the third straight game and Owen Outwater had a goal and two assists for the third consecutive win. The clubs met last Sunday in Sudbury with Kingston taking a 6-2 win and win the season series 2-0.
The Fronts were wearing 50th Anniversary jerseys for the game, paying homage to the Canadians and Raiders history of the franchise. Former franchise players and coaches Brad Rhiness, Eric Brubacher, Steve Dine, John Bialas, Michael Freeman, Mike Crombeen, Rob Parent, Dave Hynek, Rob Plumb, Brian Crombeen, Brian Abrams, Jeff Cornelius, David James, Darren Wright, Chris Clifford, Roy Reid, Herb Raglan, Mark Lyons, Mike Maurice, Wayne Erskine, Jamie Henkel, Tony Cimellero, and Mark Major all made their way onto the ice for a pregame puck drop.
Ivan Zhigalov made his third consecutive start after starring in the last two victories winning his seventh start. The Colorado Avalanche prospect faced 26 shots making 22 saves. Joe Ranger was in the Wolves crease facing 36 Kingston shots on the five goals against. Zhigalov spoke after the game; “It was different tonight then playing them before; we got back some guys, (Ben) Roger, (Tommy) Budnick, and Maleek (McGowan). We played a tighter game than last week against them. It was a pretty good game and I think we deserved to win tonight.”
The first period saw the Fronts score twice before a late period goal by the visitors with some hard play by both clubs. Ben Roger hit Sudbury’s Alex Assadourian hard into the boards in the Kingston corner and Andre Anania made a solid check on Linus Hemstrom highlighting the period.
The Black and Gold took the opening lead when Owen Outwater (7) buried a loose puck on front of Ranger for the 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the first period. Matthew Soto and Josh Currie assisted at 4:41.
Outwater’s second point of the game came on a nice assist to Soto (8) for the 2-0 lead with 5:06 left in the frame. Francesco Arcuri earned his first point of the game on an assist to extend a point streak to four games (7G,3A).
The Wolves got on the board with 1:19 left to settle the 2-1 score after twenty minutes when Jacob Holmes (1) whistled a wrist shot past Zhigalov’s blocker. Former Frontenacs star Martin Chromiak’s brother Jakub assisted on the tally.
Jackson Stewart put Quentin Musty over the boards at the Wolves bench on a big hit in a fast-paced first half of the second period seeing the teams trade chances before the visitors scored twice to take a 3-2 lead.
A second Sudbury man-advantage halfway through the stanza led to the 2-2 goal by Anania (4) just after the Kingston penalty ended when a flying puck made its way past a screened Zhigalov for the tie score at 12:23. The 3-2 tally was a nice redirect of the puck past Zhigalov by Daniel Goyette (14) on a nice pass by Even Konyen at 17:47.
Kingston improved to a 2-7-0-1 record when trailing after two periods and came out strong to get the game tied.
Arcuri (19) squared the game with a quick low shot past Ranger just 27 seconds into the third on the first of a five-shot run for the Fronts as the homeside came out with a sense of urgency in the final period. The 3-3 tally added to the Dallas Stars league-leading goal total and was assisted by Paul Ludwinski with Linus Hemstrom extending a point streak to four games (1G,4A) adding a helper.
The teams skated four aside after a late period scrum with Josh Currie and Chromiak sent off on coincidentals. Musty was given a game misconduct penalty after shooting a toy puck thrown onto the ice into the stands.
Arcuri (20) scored his second of the night on a blistering slapper at 15:20 to retake the Kingston lead at 4-3 but the Wolves wouldn’t give in and tied the game again 4-4 just 1:03 later on a Nolan Collins (4) tally to send the game to extra time.
Soto hit post on a wonderful chance with Goyette getting robbed by a Zhigalov glove, and another nice save on Assadourian before Soto (9) buried the winner with his second of the game at 3:35 of extra time with Braden Hache and Owen Outwater assisting. Outwater earned his third point of the game.
“Wasn’t perfect game for me, a couple goals I feel I could have stopped, but it’s just process, and I will work on these things.” I think it was a good game and a team first win. I was glad to be able to make a few good saves in overtime. Its an important time in the game and I feel the guys were very happy.”
Zhigalov was impressed with Soto and his drive in the game. “He was great. In OT he creates great chance before his goal when he hit the post and then after that, he scored. I’m so happy for him because he works so hard.”
Kingston hits the road for a Sunday matinee against the Mississauga Steelheads looking for a fourth straight win.
Scorers:
KGN: Outwater (7), Soto (8,9), Arcuri (19,20)
SBY: Holmes (1), Anania (4), Goyette (14), Collins (3)
Powerplays:
KGN: (0/1)
SBY: (0/3)
BMW of Kingston Hardest Worker:
Paul Ludwinski (2A,3SOG)
Three Star Awards:
- Matthew Soto KGN – (2G,1A)
- Francesco Arcuri KGN – (2G,1A)
- Owen Outwater KGN – (1G,2A)
Fronts Notes:
- On Nov 23, Frontenacs Hockey Club officially announced its bid for rights to host the 2024 Memorial Cup presented by Kia
- F Francesco Arcuri – extended to 4-gm pt streak (7G,3A)
- 20G – 1st OHL, 8 PPG – T-1st OHL
- F Linus Hemstrom –extended to 4-gm pt streak (1G,4A)
Team Stat Pack – GP (23) (12-9-1-1) 26 pts
Leaders:
Goals – Arcuri – 1st OHL (20), Soto (9), Outwater, Hemström (7)
PPG – Arcuri (8), Soto, (3), Battaglia (2)
Assists – Hemström (14), Burns, Soto, Outwater (13)
PPA – Hemstrom (8), Burns (5), Outwater, Soto (4)
Points – Arcuri (28), Soto (22), Hemstrom (21)
PPP – Arcuri (11), Hemstrom (8), Soto (7)
SOG – Arcuri – 3rd OHL (88), Outwater (51), Hemström (40)
Plus/Minus – Outwater (+7), Burns (+6), McGowan, Schneider (+4)
PIMs – Burns (42), Haché (36), Budnick (33)
On The Front
The Fronts hit the road on Sunday afternoon against the Mississauga Steelheads at 2:00 pm at Paramount Fine Foods Centre, looking for revenge for a 4-3 overtime loss on November 13th before returning home for a pair of home games on Dec 2 versus North Bay Battalion (Teddy Bear Toss – 7:00pm) and December 4th against the Flint Firebirds (Superhero Night – 2:00pm).
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.
