Well folks, this one is going the distance.
Fort Erie Meteors forward Jayden Baldinelli scored with two seconds remaining in the second period to put his team up 2-1 against the Hamilton Kilty B’s on Wednesday night. The score would stay that way until the final buzzer, forcing a do-or-die Game 7.
Joseph Macchione also scored for Fort Erie.
Playing in just his second game of the playoffs for the Kilty B’s, Luke Johnston found the net before the halfway point of the first period, giving Hamilton an early lead. The Meteors won a faceoff just outside their zone, but Johnston was quick off the draw and beat his man to the puck. He poked it past the defender, picking it back up and beating the goalie five-hole for his first ever GOJHL playoff goal.
The Meteors mounted a relentless offensive attack after giving up the opening goal, only finally breaking through in the second period. Macchione took a long pass on the rush 5:01 into the frame, stopping up just below the right faceoff circle and creating enough space for himself to fire a wrist shot up and over the glove of Kilty B’s netminder Braedyn McIntosh. The goal evened the score at 1-1, and it looked like things would stay that way heading into the third.
But in the closing seconds of the period a blocked shot from the point found the stick of Baldinelli, who was following the play towards the net. The skilled forward outwaited McIntosh and found an opening to give his team the 2-1 lead with just two seconds on the clock.
Hamilton came out firing in the third, with ten shots on net in the period, but Duncan Nichols-Delay stopped them all. The Meteors goalie has been fantastic in the series, and is a major reason why it’s headed to a deciding game. He stopped 22 of the 23 shots directed towards him.
Game 7 will go on Friday night from Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena, with puck drop scheduled for 7 PM.
