It wasn’t the trip south the Owen Sound Attack were hoping for.
Andrew Kuzma and Kayden Edwards each scored a pair, and Michael Dec added a goal and two assists, as the Erie Otters cruised past the Attack 8-3 in Ontario Hockey League action Wednesday evening at Erie Insurance Arena.
Ulysses Lombardi, Luc Plante and Jackson Schouten also scored for Erie (16-31-2-2), which ended a four-game losing streak.
Pierce Mbuyi, Nick Sykora and Cole Zurawski had the goals for the Attack (20-27-2-3).
Owen Sound dropped its fourth straight, and will close out a stretch of five straight road games Thursday evening against Niagara IceDogs.
The Attack opened the scoring just under five minutes in. Mbuyi ripped a one-timer from the right side of the offensive zone past Noah Erliden to make it 1-0.
But the Otters would take the lead with a pair of goals just seven seconds apart past the midway mark of the first.
Lombardi tied it 1-1 with a power play goal at 11:20. And then off the faceoff, Erie got the puck into the Attack zone and Lenny Greenberg lost his footing – allowing Edwards to move in and put a high shot past Matthew Koprowski to make it 2-1 Erie.
They never trailed from there. Edwards would add another before the first ended, and then Plante scored the Otters’ fourth unanswered early in the second.
Trenten Bennett entered the game for the Attack to start the second, after Koprowski allowed three goals on 13 shots.
Sykora brought the Attack within two, and then Erie answered with a pair to extend their lead to 6-2. Kuzma notched his first of the game at 8:22 of the second period. And then the Otters got 1:42 of 5-on-3 time on back to back roughing calls against the Attack. Dec pulled a pretty move in the slot, toe-dragging and then ripping a shot low past Bennett to make it 6-2.
Zurawski got one back in the final seconds of the middle frame. Easton Mikus won an offensive zone draw, and Zurawski took the puck to his right before shooting back across his body and finding the top corner. His 21st goal of the season – and third in the past four games – brought the Attack back to within three.
But things unwound further for the Attack early in the third. Julian Brown was given a roughing call at 5:48 to send the Otters to the power play – the third time in the game a post-whistle scrum resulted in only the Attack being penalized. Owen Sound Head Coach Scott Wray then took a bench minor giving it to an official after the Brown penalty.
The result? A two-minute 5-on-3 for Erie. And their power play came through again. Kuzma scored his second of the game at 6:15 of the third to make it 7-3. And then Schouten deposited a rebound in the crease to score Erie’s season-high eighth of the game.
Erliden made 28 saves in the win, while Bennett stopped 24 taking the loss. Koprowski made 10 saves on 13 shots, before being lifted at the end of the first period.
The Otters outshot the Attack 42-31 while going 4 for 7 on the power play; Owen Sound was 0 for 1.
NELLY NEARING RETURN
Attack forward Noah Nelson took warmups in Erie and is getting close to returning to the lineup. Wray says if he’s not back against Niagara Thursday, he could slot in Saturday at home against Soo Greyhounds. Nelson has been out since mid-December with a lower-body injury.