Ottawa, Ontario – The Pembroke Lumber Kings (4-1) scored five unanswered goals, including three in the third period, giving the Ottawa Jr. Senators (1-4) a 5-3 loss on Wednesday night at the Jim Durrell Sports Complex.
Midway through the second period, Ottawa was leading 3-0 thanks to goals from Samuel Hatto, Adrien Bisson and Elie Boulerice.
With under five minutes remaining in the second frame, the Lumber Kings cut the deficit to one. Michael Douglas fired a low point shot that trickled its way through Francis Boisvert, and Malcolm Arseneau drove the net before scoring on his backhand.
Assistant Coach Chris Kushneriuk thought his team came out well but started to relax once they got the lead.
“We did a good job getting pucks behind them and getting traffic in-front of their goalie (Jake Smith) but we started to ease up and they started to put the pressure on us.”
After two periods of play Ottawa had the lead but were trailing in the shot category, 21-16.
“We were on our heels and we started chasing the game. I thought their older guys out played our older guys and they moved the puck well.”
Just over a minute into the third, Malcolm Arseneau tied the game at three, netting his second of the game and third of four total points on the night.
The Lumber Kings completed the comeback when Connor Warnholtz scored on a cross crease pass from Brendan Browne. Ottawa’s once 3-0 lead was vanished.
“We just came out flat,” said Kushneriuk. “That can be on us as coaches but at the end of the day its up to those guys on the ice – as in our leaders or older guys to make sure that stuff just does not happen.”
Jacob Collins sealed the deal with an empty netter with under a minute to go in the third period, capping off the Jr. Senators’ third blown lead loss of the season.
Ottawa also took 26 minutes in penalties and allowed two power-play goals. Kushneriuk says its tough to build momentum when your constantly in the box.
“It tires out your penalty killers and the shifts are not regular anymore. You want to limit the O-Zone infractions because those are unnecessary and that is something we’re going to have to address internally.”
In the loss, Samuel Hatto extended his point streak to four games (2G / 4A) after scoring his second of the season. Adrien Bisson netted his first goal of the year and Elie Boulerice scored his third as part of three unanswered goals scored by OJS early on.
Ottawa is now 0-2 when they are out-shot after Pembroke led the shot count 33-21. It is also the third time all year that the Jr. Sens have recorded 30 shots or less.
Ottawa’s next game is Sunday afternoon at the Nepean Sportsplex. Puck drop is at 2pm. You can catch the radio broadcast with Dante De Caria and Mason Detre on http://mixlr.com/ojsradio
