OHL: Spitfires edge Otters in double OT
Posted March 26, 2011 7:31 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Andrey Kuchin scored his third goal of the afternoon with 3:06 gone in overtime Saturday and the Sudbury Wolves opened their Ontario Hockey League playoff series against the Ottawa 67’s with a wild 8-7 victory.
Kuchin, one of three players in the game to record a hat-trick, wristed a shot over the shoulder of 67’s netminder Shayne Campbell after the Wolves rallied from a 5-4 deficit with three goals in the opening 3 1-2 minutes of the third period, only to give up the lead later in the period.
Kuchin also had two assists, Joshua Leivo also scored three times and added two assists and the third member of the line, Michael Sgarbossa, recorded a goal and five helpers for the visitors.
“It’s just one of those nights where everything clicks,” Sgarbossa said. “We’ll take it and hopefully keep it rolling in Game 2.”
The game was played at Scotiabank Place, home of the NHL’s Senators, because of a booking at the 67’s regular arena. The Wolves now go home to play host to Games 2 and 3 in the best-of-seven series on Monday and Tuesday nights.
“We knew they weren’t that comfortable in this rink and neither were we, so we knew if we could come out with some fire and get one here, it would let us go home for two (in good shape),” Sgarbossa said.
Elsewhere in the OHL it was: Plymouth 3, Kitchener 2 (OT); London 5, Owen Sound 1; Mississauga 1, Belleville 0 and Windsor 4, Spitfires 3 (2OT).
At Ottawa, Michael MacDonald had the other goal for Sudbury, Frank Corrado chipped in with two assists and Alain Valiquette returned from a late-season shoulder injury to make 41 saves.
Ryan Martindale scored three times for the 67’s, twice on the power play and once while short handed, Toffoli had two goals and two assists and Thomas Nebsitt, back from a knee injury, also registered two goals and adding an assist.
Sean Monahan and Cody Ceci both had a pair of assists.
The 67’s finished second overall in the Eastern Conference after topping the East Division, 31 points ahead of the seventh-place Wolves.
The 67’s scored four times on 13 power-play opportunities Saturday, but failed to convert on four of five often lengthy 5-on-3 chances, including one in the first period after Sudbury’s overage centre Eric O’Dell received a five-minute major and game misconduct after hitting Tyler Toffoli into the boards from behind.
Ottawa starter Petr Mrazek was pulled after allowing seven goals on 28 shots. Campbell made 10 saves the rest of the way.
“We hadn’t given up eight goals in a game all year, we hadn’t even giving up seven goals — a very undisciplined defensive effort for us,” 67’s coach Chris Byrne said. “Today, we were in big trouble in our own zone and didn’t play well defensively.”
Whalers 3 Rangers 2 (OT)
At Plymouth, Mich., Robbie Czarnik’s goal 2:23 into overtime gave the Whalers a win over Kitchener.
The Whalers lead the Western Conference quarter-final series 2-0, with Game 3 going Monday night in Kitchener.
Tyler Brown and Mitchell Heard scored in regulation for Plymouth.
Jerry D’Amigo had both goals for Kitchener.
Knights 5 Attack 1
At London, Ont., Michael Houser made 52 stops to lead the Knights to a win over Owen Sound.
The the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final is even at one game each. Game 3 is Tuesday in Owen Sound.
Seth Griffith scored on the power play just 19 seconds into the game and assisted on Jared Knight’s goal 14:09 into the third to round out the offence. Vladislav Namestnikov, Stephen Sanza and Matt Rupert were the other London scorers.
Roman Berdnikov scored the only Owen Sound goal.
Majors 1 Bulls 0
At Belleville, Ont., J.P. Anderson made 21 saves and Justin Shugg scored the only goal as Mississauga blanked the Bulls.
With the win the Majors took a 2-0 lead in the series.
Mississauga opened the scoring in the first period with Shugg’s second goal of the playoffs.
Belleville goalie Malcolm Subban made 28 saves.
Spitfires 4 Otters 3 (2OT)
At Erie, Pa., Windsor’s Jeff Brown scored 11:09 into the second overtime as the Spitfires edged the Otters.
The Spitfires tied the series at a game apiece in the longest game in Erie’s history.
Brown also scored in regulation for Windsor, while Jake Carrick and Ryan Ellis added singles.
Mike Cazzola had a goal and two assists for Erie, while Greg McKegg and Shawn Szydlowski also scored.
