Hamilton wins 8-1 to regain their playoff series lead
Four power-play goals highlight Hamilton romp over Ottawa to take 2-1 series lead
The whopping discrepancy of 24 points in the standings notwithstanding, in breaking down the playoff mismatch between the Ottawa 67’s and Hamilton Bulldogs, the biggest challenge facing the 67’s figured to be trying to contain a high-octane Bulldogs power play.
It was as simple as the Bulldogs’ third-best power play in the Ontario Hockey League against a 67’s penalty-killing unit that surrendered the second-most power play goals among the 16 teams to qualify for the OHL post-season.
Nine periods in, it’s proving to be no contest at all as the Bulldogs scored their fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh power-play goals of the series, routing the 67’s 8-1 before a sparse turnout of just 1,822 in The Arena at TD Place on Tuesday.
The Hamilton power play is operating at almost 60 per cent (7-for-12), more than twice their regular-season mark of almost 25 per cent and the one-sided affair sent Hamilton ahead 2-1 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final.
The only good news for the 67’s is the time to dwell on this one is short — real short.
The teams do a quick turnaround for Game 4 Wednesday night in The Arena at TD Place before heading back to Hamilton for Friday’s Game 5. Off the most recent result, fans have to be wondering how the 67’s won Game 2 Sunday night in Hamilton.
Frustrated with a split at home, the heavily-favoured Bulldogs juggled their line combinations, hoping to find some offensive magic. It obviously worked.
The 67’s were realistically out of it just past the midway point of the second period, which had the fans scattering to the parking garage before the third period was five minutes old.
No. 1 netminder Olivier Tremblay watched the final 17:57 from the bench after giving up seven goals on just 29 shots, though he’s certain to be back in the net for Game 4.
Nicholas Caamano, Brandon Saigeon and Ryan Moore all scored power-play goals in the second as the Bulldogs ran the score from 1-0 after 20 minutes to 5-1 after 40.
The Bulldogs then ran it up in the third on goals by Saigeon (10 seconds in), Riley Stillman at 2:03 to chase Tremblay, and then Arthur Kaliyev with a final power play goal at 6:29.
And to think the 67’s were coming off a high in Game 2, a 5-4 upset win.
“Game 2 was a little bit of a wake-up call,” said Will Bitten, who finished with a goal and three assists against his younger brother Sam of the 67’s. “We gave (the 67’s) a little bit of confidence in Game 2 and we wanted to shut that down. I think we did that with an 8-1 win.
“This was a statement game.” It didn’t take the teams long to get into the spirit of things when, just 14 seconds in, 67’s 18-yearold Hudson Wilson went toe-totoe with Bulldogs captain Justin Lemcke, a 21-year-old.
The fight must have been premeditated because the pair of 6-3, 200-pound defencemen wasted no time getting rid of the gloves and meeting at centre ice as the puck headed into the Hamilton end.
And the pair went at it in one of the longest, and most entertaining bouts in several seasons, with Wilson scoring the slight victory.
The 67’s suffered a minor scare 13 minutes in when the Bulldogs’ Bitten clashed with Tremblay, who went down hard and stayed down for several minutes. Tremblay is the one player the 67’s can least afford to lose — but he got back up and played on.
Moments later, Bitten was in point-blank range on Tremblay and the Montreal Canadiens draft pick made no mistake for his second of the series to send Hamilton up 1-0 at 13:35.
The 67’s had their chances late in the period on Kaden Fulcher in the Hamilton net, only to come away empty.
The Bulldogs extended the lead to 2-0 on a power-play goal by Caamano at 4:11 of the middle period.
Just 69 seconds later, Bulldog Isaac Nurse sent his club up 3-0 on a two-on-one against a defenceless Tremblay. It looked like Hamilton might be about the run away with things — which turned out to be all too true.
Off the ensuing faceoff, 67’s defenceman Carter Robertson made a great play to keep the puck in at the Hamilton blue-line and fired a low shot toward the net that Austen Keating tipped off the cross-bar behind Fulcher. The puck fell straight down and Mitchell Hoelscher was in the right spot to tap it in and cut it to 3-1.
But that was it for the 67’s as Hamilton reeled off the next five.
We gave (the 67’s) a little bit of confidence in Game 2 and we wanted to shut that down. I think we did that with an 8-1 win