OHL Brantford Bulldogs

Egorov Earns First Career OHL Win in Bulldogs' 5-4 Victory

Published on February 3, 2023 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Brantford Bulldogs News Release


HAMILTON, ONTARIO. The Hamilton Bulldogs were back in action Friday night hosting the Niagara IceDogs for the second time this season. The meeting marked a collision of rookie goaltenders as Charlie Burns got the call for Niagara in his career appearance, and David Egorov was tabbed for his second career start for Hamilton.

Niagara opened the scoring capitalizing on the man advantage just 54 seconds into the game, after a scramble in front of the net landed on the stick of Andrew LeBlanc who tapped it in for his 9th of the season giving the visitors a 1-0 lead as they tried to shake the Bulldogs 13-game winning streak in the rivalry. The Bulldogs looked to get a spark on a man advantage of their own, but Charlie Burns kept his team ahead, stopping chances off the sticks of Artem Grushnikov & Nick Lardis while shorthanded. Halfway through the period, the Bulldogs began increasing the pressure on Niagara. Lawson Sherk found the crossbar with a wicked backhand, and Adrian Rebelo earned a net front opportunity that Burns was able to deny again holding the visitors out front while sprawling across the goal line. After an unlucky bounce off the glass sprung IceDogs forward Kevin He on a breakaway, He snapped it over the glove of Egorov for his 13th of the season, doubling his teams' lead with 3:05 remaining in the period, giving the IceDogs a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes.

Hamilton took full advantage of an early 2nd period power-play, as Sahil Panwar blasted a one- timer past Burns to cut Niagara's lead in half off a perfect Jorian Donovan pass for his 16th of the year at 1:14, getting the Bulldogs back to within one. Just past the midway point of the period, after David Egorov made a pair of toe saves, the hosts fed off the momentum and tied the game, courtesy of Florian Xhekaj as he received a pass from hometown teammate Adrian Rebelo and lasered a wrist shot from the hashmarks, collecting his 8th of the season and tying the game, 2-2 at 10:56. The IceDogs quickly regained the lead as Juan Copeland skated the puck up on a 2-on-1 with Zackary Lavoie, feeding it through the skates of Noah VanVliet to Lavoie who tipped the puck past Egorov for his 17th of the season putting Niagara up 3-2 at 12:12. Late in the period, Nick Lardis found the puck in the neutral zone and raced up the ice, unleashing a wicked wrister that beat Charlie Burns blocker side for his 22nd of the season, tying the game at 3-3 at 18:59 and sending it to the final frame in a stalemate.

As Jorian Donovan was exiting the penalty box just past six and a half minutes into the frame, he & Lawson Sherk were sprung for a 2-on-0 opportunity and made no mistake going tic-tac- goal style with Donovan finishing it off, giving the Bulldogs their first lead of the game 4-3 on Donovan's 11th at 6:45. The Bulldogs lead doubled just a couple minutes later as Patrick Thomas finished off a Nick Lardis wrap-around chance, for his 15th of the season, after Sahil Panwar started a goal mouth scramble to make it a 5-3 game at 8:45. With the game 4-on-4 Niagara drew one closer, capitalizing on a 2-on-1 with Declan Waddick crashing the net after a Zackary Lavoie shot trickled through the gear of Egorov, making it a 5-4 game at 11:41. With 1:25 left in the game, Niagara took their time out and emptied their net for the extra attacker.

David Egorov came up big in the final minute, making a blocker save in the dying seconds securing the 5-4 win for the Bulldogs, and Egorov's first career OHL win, becoming the youngest goaltender in Bulldogs history to earn an OHL win in the process.

The Bulldogs are back at it tomorrow night as they travel to Windsor to face off against Shane Wright and the Spitfires at the WFCU Centre. The puck drops at 7:05pm.

For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs 2022-23 Flex packages or single-game tickets call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com.

Check out the Brantford Bulldogs Statistics

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from February 3, 2023


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