’Hounds fall 2-1 in OT, drop to fourth in race

Ryan Watson scored both goals for improving Oklahoma City.

By TOM WILLIAMS

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — For the second time within 24 hours, the Youngstown SteelHounds unleashed plenty of quality shots at Oklahoma City goaltender Sean Connors.

And for the second straight day, a victory eluded the SteelHounds.

Two minutes into Sunday’s overtime, Ryan Watson’s second goal of the game gave the Blazers a 2-1 victory that knocked the SteelHounds out of third place in the Central Hockey League’s Northern Conference playoff chase.

Watson, who stole the puck along the boards in the Blazers’ zone, took off, pulling goaltender Andy Franck out and backhanding the puck for the game-winning goal.

“To be quite frank, I was just trying to shovel it on net,” Watson said.” I was pretty gassed at that point in the game, it’s been a long weekend. So I was just trying to get it on net.”

Watson’s goal spoiled a solid performance by Franck, who stopped 40 shots in his first game in eight days. Connors stopped 33.

“Both goalies played very well,” SteelHounds goalie Kevin Kaminski said. “In the first period, we came out absolutely flat. We got our game back in the second [period].”

About 14 minutes into the game, Watson picked up a rebound and sent a backhand shot past Franck for a 1-0 lead.

“[Defenseman] Mike Burgoyne took it to the net and the puck popped through a few legs,” Watson said. “I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and I put it up top.”

That lead lasted until midway through the second period. After the SteelHounds killed off two penalties, Ryan Bennett scored his second goal of the three-game series.

Bennett picked up the rebound from his own shot off Connors’ pads and snapped the puck into the net. Joel Irving and Eric Main assisted.

That was all the scoring the SteelHounds could produce against Connors, the winner of Saturday’s 3-2 contest.

“He works hard and he’s consistent,” said SteelHounds forward Bryan Lachapelle, who saw his five-game scoring streak snapped.

Kaminski was pleased his team came to life after the first intermission.

“We killed those two penalties and had a couple of [scoring] chances on the penalty kill,” Kaminski said. “We seemed to get some life and Bennett scored right after that. We played solid after that.”

The overtime loss gave the SteelHounds (28-17-4) their 60th point of the season. But Colorado’s win over New Mexico moved them a point ahead of Youngstown in the race for the Northern Conference’s final three playoff berths.

That they earned the point was a tribute to some third-period play from Franck (17-9-3). After Jason Seerey’s shot rang off the goalpost with about five minutes to play, Franck stuffed Garrett Prosofsky’s attempt as he hugged the post.

Then while sprawled, Franck’s glove touched the puck just enough to lift it on to the top of the net.

“He made some big saves,” Kaminski said. “Obviously it’s a big point. We had some unbelievable chances, too ... some wide-open nets.”

The loss dropped the SteelHounds’ home record to 12-8-3 and was their first Sunday loss at home (3-0-1). They ended an eight-game homestand at 3-3-2.

williams@vindy.com