The Ottawa Black Bears were hunting for something with wings and they found it Saturday night, as Ottawa held off Philadelphia with a 16-12 win at Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, ON.
What is more impressive is that each team was perfect on their power plays. Ottawa was a perfect 3-3 while the Wings were a perfect 4-4. Also impressive was Brennan O’Neill’s first career sock trick (six goals) and two-assist dominance, which accounted for half of Philadelphia’s goals.
Zach Higgins, who recently signed a two-year extension with the Black Bears, was solid with 30 saves. After allowing four goals on seven shots, Nick Damude was lifted from Philadelphia’s net in favour of Deacan Knott, who played the rest of the game and made 37 saves.
Ottawa jumped on the Wings early, going up 5-2 by the end of the first. It looked like the game was going to be decided quickly as Ottawa put 4 up (including 2 power play goals) before Philly regrouped. O’Neill scored back-to-back goals before Ottawa scored goal 5.
Quarter 2 saw both teams exchange goals twice, with Ottawa leading 7-4 at halftime. After the break, the Black Bears came out fired up and put two more in the goal before Philadelphia found its wings, netting five straight to end the quarter tied 9-9.
Ottawa went on the prowl during the fourth quarter as they roared back for the second week in a row (having come back from a 9-1 deficit the week prior against Las Vegas) and outscored Philadelphia 7-3 to secure the win, with Jeff Teat contributing the rest of his 11-point game. Although the Wings held Teat to just two goals, he fired off nine assists and reached the 300-assist plateau.
Rob Hellyer contributed four goals and two assists, and Reilly O’Connor three goals and four assists.
