Kingston Frontenacs' rally falls short, lose 4-3 to 67's in Ottawa - Canada News Beep

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Published Mar 29, 2026 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 4 minute read

hockry Kingston Frontenacs defenceman Andre Mondoux (No. 25) marks Ottawa 67’s centre Jasper Kuhta (No. 22) in Game 2 of the first-round playoff series at TD Place on March 29 in Ottawa. (Photo courtesy of by Tim Austen/Ottawa 67’s)Article content

The Kingston Frontenacs lost 4-3 to Ottawa 67’s at TD Place in Game 2 of their opening-round playoff series, but they can take encouragement from their performance in the third period when they were chasing a tying goal right down to the final seconds.

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The favoured 67’s built a 4-1 lead in the game’s first 28 minutes and knocking Kingston’s starting goaltender Gavin Betts out of the game . After goals on consecutive shifts by Shaan Kingswell and Thomas Vandenberg, Kingston coach Troy Mann pulled Betts in favour of Matt Minchak.

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“I had no choice,” Mann said. “[Betts] was bombarded in the first period and kept us in the game, but I was going to pull him after the Kingwell goal. I thought I’d give him another chance. As soon as [Vandenberg’s shot] went in I had to change momentum.”

It might have looked like Minchak was stepping in for nothing more than mop-up duty—at that point Kingston was down by three goals and had been outshot 25-7. And for the balance of the second period it looked like exactly that.

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Kingston had trouble breaking the Ottawa blueline and gaining puck possesion in the hosts’ end of the ice. Minchak wasn’t too busy over the balance of the period, credited with just five saves, but at least a couple were high-quality chances, the toughest of all coming on a reflex glove save on Spencer Bowes shot at the 19:59 mark that would have served as the dagger if it had found the back of the net.

Even with the highlight moment, Ottawa had outshot the visitors 31-12 through two periods and the 67’s seemed poised to roll through their series against the sixth-seeded Frontenacs in the minimum four games with not much resistance. Yet by the end of Game 2, the hosts were the team that was hanging on.

Ottawa’s Sam McCue took a holding penalty in the first minute of the third period in the neutral zone, a sloppy bit of coverage, but with no imminent threat. On the ensuing powerplay rookie Aleks Kulemin tipped home Van Williamson’s shot from the point to pull the Frontenacs to make it 4-2.

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“That really energized the guys,” Mann said. “They started to believe that a comeback was possible.”

Less than three minutes later Kingston’s Slovak imports combined on a set faceoff play to make it a one-goal game. Centre Tomas Pobezal won a draw from Bowes and deftly back-heeled the puck at the faceoff dot to Alex Misiak who wired a one-touch snapshot over the waving glove of Ottawa goalie Ryder Fetterolf.

Kingston outshot the 67’s 13-11 in the third and was pressing in the final minute with Minchak pulled in favour of an extra attacker. With 12 seconds to go, rookie Nolan Snyder had a shot at point-blank range on Fetterolf but couldn’t get a clean handle on the rolling puck. As time expired centre Kieren Dervin fired a puck from the slot that the Ottawa netminder knocked down.

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Mann took encouragement from his team’s rally in the third period and particularly the all-rookie third line centred by Kulemin with Snyder on the right wing and Robin Kuzma on the left.

“It doesn’t feel great to be down two games but I can’t say enough about the rookie line,” Mann said. “They were our best line again tonight. They work, they compete, they know he systems and they’re executing exactly what we’re talking about.”

The game got off to a promising start for the Frontenacs. Off the opening faceoff Ottawa centre Zach Houben was hit with a minor penalty for a hit to the head of his Matthew Frost, who had won the draw.

Houben had tested the refs’ willingness to blow their whistles early in Game 1, delivering three cross-checks across the back of Tomas Pobezal in the same situation. On Friday night, officials looked the other way in the name of letting the players have a little license, but in Game 2 they set an early standard.

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“The refs told me before the game that they were already told by their superiors that they were penalizing that stuff if it started out the same way,” Mann said.

Kingston might have been able to take advantage of possession with a delayed penalty call, but seconds later the play was whistled dead as Ottawa’s Sam McCue was trading punches with Frost’s winger Riley Clark, who had a goal and assist in Game 1.

The 67’s were just seconds away from killing off Houben’s minor when their big defenceman David Bedkowski fired the puck over the glass and was hit with a delay-of-game penalty.

Kingston didn’t score on those early powerplay but did pick up a goal from left winger Alex McLean just past the seven-minute mark to open the scoring. It was the fourth shot on Fetterolf and also the last shot he face until the second period.

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The 67’s rained down pucks on Betts’ net the rest for the next 13 minutes—the Kingston starter faced 19 shots in the first period and hung in gamely, beaten finally by Thomas Vandenberg on a powerplay in the 16th minute and Jasper Kuhta at even strength less than two minutes later.

“[Ottawa] gained a lot of momentum from killing those two early penalties, and our powerplay wasn’t good enough early” Mann said.

The coach and his players hope their best 20 minutes of hockey in this series will carry over to the first period of Game 3 in Kingston Tuesday and Game 4 on Thursday. The Frontenacs had their moments in their 7-4 loss in Ottawa Friday night, particularly in the second period when Will Bishop and Riley Clark scored goals 11 seconds apart to tie the game 4-4 against the run of play after another one-sided stretch of hockey for the home team.

The Kingston coach faces a decision about his starter in the cage in Game 3. Minchak was flawless in making 17 stops, but for the last six weeks of the season the No. 1 job belonged to Betts.

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Kingston Frontenacs’ rally falls short, lose 4-3 to 67’s in Ottawa

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