Brantford Bulldogs RW Nick Lardis played his 200th OHL game, and D Patrick Babin made his debut in a 7-4 win over the Brampton Steelheads on Wednesday, December 18, 2024.
Brampton scored at the 7:53 mark of the first period as C Luke Misa shot the puck past the left side of Bulldogs G David Egorov.
Brantford responded with 6:52 left as C Patrick Thomas skated around the Steelheads defence and shot the puck past the right shoulder of Steelheads G Jacob Gibbons for his twelfth goal of the season.
But the Steelheads took advantage of the defensive miscues by Brantford and rattled Egorov for three straight goals in five shots before the first period ended.
In the second period, the Bulldogs began their comeback. Thomas scored his second goal of the game, thirteenth of the season, at the 4:43 mark off a rebound past Gibbons.
Brantford cut down the deficit to a goal at 9:02 as C Jake O’Brien outmuscled the Brampton defence. Near the Steelheads goal, O’Brien passed the puck to LW Josh Avery and sniped the puck past Gibbons for his fifth goal of the season.
The Bulldogs completed their comeback with 6:17 left in the middle frame as O’Brien scored his seventeenth of the season as he redirected the shot from D Lucas Moore in front of Gibbons.
Early In the third period, the Bulldogs took the lead for good. On the powerplay at 6:29, D Tomas Hamara made the cross-ice pass to Lardis, who fired the one-timer past Gibbons for his 29th goal of the season.
Brantford doubled their lead with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. Once again on the powerplay, O’Brien scored his second of the game and eighteenth of the season after he tucked in the rebound through the pads of Gibbons. This was also the third powerplay goal of the game for the Bulldogs, and they went 3-for-5 on the man advantage in this game.
With the assist, Thomas has tied Brandon Saigeon for fourth place in the all-time franchise points list with 196. LW Marek Vanacker iced the game in the final minute with his fifth goal of the season on the empty netter.
Egorov settled down after a shaky first period to make 26 saves in the comeback victory.
