The first period had no shortage of action right from the opening puck drop for Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs between the Ottawa 67’s and Kingston Frontenacs on March 29 at TD Place.

Off the opening face-off, 67’s forward Zach Houben went off for checking to the head 14 seconds in and there was also a big-time fight between Sam McCue (Ottawa) and Riley Clark (Kingston).

Kingston’s Alex McLean broke the ice in Game 2 after a broken play with the puck landing right on his stick and he buried it to make it 1-0 Kingston seven minutes into the game. The assists were from Jack Dever and Kieren Dervin.

The 67’s responded with a power-play goal, Thomas Vandenberg scored his first OHL playoff goal when he received a pass from Kohyn Eshkawkogan and blew it by Gavin Betts. The secondary assist went to Nic Whitehead at 15:44.

Jasper Kuhta, Ottawa’s leading regular season goal scorer, had his first OHL playoff goal, giving the 67’s their first lead of the game as he potted a juicy rebound from Nic Sima’s shot to make it 2-1 Ottawa at 17:31 of the first. The secondary assist went to David Bedkowski for his follow-up pass.

It was 2-1 Ottawa after 20 minutes, Shots were 19-4 in favour of the 67’s.

Shaan Kingwell scored his first OHL playoff goal which extended the 67’s lead to 3-1. He stepped in with the puck and put it over the left shoulder of Gavin Betts. The assists were from Thomas Vandenberg and Kaleb Dietsch at 6:35 of the second. That was Kingwell’s first goal since last Dec. 28.

Thomas Vandenberg didn’t give up as he scored his second of the game to give the 67’s a three-goal lead. He dug deep in from of the net and poked it past Gavin Betts to make it 4-1 Ottawa. Assists were from Nic Whitehead and Jasper Kuhta at 7:41 of the second period.

Kingston pulled Gavin Betts after the fourth goal. Betts finished the night with 21 saves on 25 shots with four goals allowed before getting yanked. Matthew Minchak replaced Betts in net.

Shots were 31-12 after 40 minutes in favour of Ottawa.

Aleks Kulemin cut the 67’s lead to two with a power-play goal that he redirected from a Vann Williamson point shot in from the slot. It was reviewed twice but was deemed a good goal as it was decided to be under the crossbar a 1:26 into the third period. The secondary assist was from Alex McLean.

Kingston scored again cutting to one as Alex Misiak stepped into a shot off the face-off win from Tomas Pobezal and blew it blocker side on Ryder Fetterolf a 3:59 into the third period.

Kingston pushed hard for the tying goal with the net empty and the extra attacker but could not convert. Ottawa held on to take the hockey game 4-3 and take a 2-0 lead in the series as they head to Kingston.

Ottawa 67’s defenseman David Bedkowski said the defence adjusted after allowing two quick goals in the third.

“Yeah, I think avoiding panic and trusting our game, like I said before, not sitting back, just continuing to play our game and have that belief in ourselves that we can make plays and continuing to play hard as well,” said Bedkowski.

Bedkowski also noted how instrumental home ice advantage was in the first two games of the series as they head to Kingston.

“It’s huge, our are fans are incredible. It’s such an amazing atmosphere, to walk out there you know I think the count was 5,000 but it feels more full than that and they’re unreal, every big play, every hit, you know not even the goals you know they’re on their feet and it’s such an incredible atmosphere and you can’t mimic those moments,” said Bedkowski.

67’s goaltender Ryder Fetterolf faced under 10 shots at the halfway point of the second. He said he has ways to stay warm.

“Yeah, just you know keep skating to the boards and back, just reset and treat every face-off you know whether it’s in my zone or not, like they are gonna come at me and I do a couple of skating patterns and keep my head into it,” said Fetterolf.

Ottawa 67’s assistant coach Paul Stoykewych said the team is looking to get less on the penalty sheet as they go to Kingston.

“For sure, for sure, I mean you look at the penalties we’ve taken, you never want to put the referee in a situation where it’s either you know he has to make a call or he doesn’t, again, we’re willing to play right on that line. We got to be aggressive. We, you know, we got to initiate, um, so there’s going to be times where we’re gonna take a few penalties,” said Stoykewych.

Ryder Fetterolf pointed out the team’s expectations as the series shifts to Kingston.

“I mean we definitely expect, you know, to be a lot of energy there, they’re going to bring their good game. We’re just going to keep playing how we are, obviously we’re up two so we know what we’re doing, and, you know, not get satisfied because that’s not what we want to do,” said Fetterolf.