IceDogs hope to return home with split
There’s no place like home in the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.
Much to their delight, the Niagara IceDogs found that out in the first two games in a best-of-seven quarter-final against the Oshawa Generals.
On Wednesday night, when action in the opening-round series shifted to Oshawa for the first time, it was the Generals’ turn to celebrate a victory on their home ice.
Fifth-seeded Oshawa rebounded from a 1-0 deficit after 20 minutes of play with three-goal runs in both the second and third periods for a 6-2 victory over Niagara, the No. 4 seed in the field of eight in the Eastern Conference.
Game 4 is 7:05 p.m. Thursday in Oshawa with the fifth game 7 p.m. Saturday at Meridian Centre in St. Catharines.
“We knew it was going to be a tight series,” IceDogs head coach Billy Burke said. “The two games in our rink were tight.
“They won 20 games in the regular season in their rink, so obviously they’re comfortable here.”
Niagara opened their first playoff series in three years against Oshawa with 4-2 and 6-1 losses, but Burke never expected a quick series, let alone a fourgame sweep.
“I think the whole plan from the outset was to come in here and split,” he said. “Obviously, a sweep would have been fantastic, but I think that was a bit of a pipe dream.
“We just want to come in here, get the split and then head back to our rink for Game 5.”
Burke, who called Tuesday night’s game a “wake-up call,” said dwelling on the loss won’t help the team going forward.
“This is playoffs. When you win two, you feel like you can walk on water and then you lose one and you feel like you’re in the gutter.
“It’s just finding that balance, and we’ll get back to work tomorrow.”
Burke felt the IceDogs controlled the play in the first period, but they were unable to match Oshawa’s intensity after that.
“They were a much more desperate team in the second period, and they were rewarded with three straight goals,” he said.
“We did our best to come back, but it was just all for naught.”
The IceDogs learned a lot in their first loss of the playoffs, knowledge Burke hopes they will put to good use when they return to the ice.
“I think all the guys were saying the right things, but until you lose one you don’t really know what desperation is,” he said. “But I certainly think going into Game 4 I feel like we will be a much more desperate team.”
There is no such thing as an easy opponent once the playoffs roll around, and a series between two teams that were separated by only five points over the course of a 68-game regular season is no exception.
“It’s a wake-up call in the sense that teams aren’t going to roll over,” Burke said in his postgame comments Wednesday night. “It’s the playoffs, they’re a strong, deep team, just like we are.
“They aren’t going to roll over for us, it’s going to be a battle.
“We’re going to have to make sure that we’re earning every single win.”
Akil Thomas opened the scoring
with his third goal of the playoffs with one minute remaining in the first period.
Niagara outshot Oshawa 13-12. Alex Di Carlo tied the game 1:15 into the second scoring the Generals’ first-even strength of the post-season.
They went up by two — their first two-goal lead of the series — on goals from Danil Antropov, on the power play; and Kyle MacLean, with the teams playing five aside.
In the middle frame Oshawa outshot Niagara 19-13.
Danial Singer’s first of the playoffs made it a one-goal game, though only for little more than a minute. Renars Krastenbergs and MacLean, his second of the night, put the Generals up 5-2.
Di Carlo scored a short-handed goal into an empty net to round out the scoring.
The IceDogs outshot their hosts 41-38 but unlike in Game 2 Sunday, when the IceDogs went
4-for-9 on the power play, they were unable to find the back of the net with a man advantage Wednesday night in Oshawa.
They finished 0-for-3 on the power play while surrendering a power-play and a short-handed goal to the Generals.
In Game 3, the Generals made a point of making life difficult for IceDogs goaltender Stephen Dhillon by creating traffic in front of the net.
Di Carlo said that was part of Oshawa’s game plan to get back in the series.
“Get pucks to the net, make sure we have traffic in front,” he said in a TV interview during the second intermission. “He can’t stop what he can’t see.”
’Dog Biscuits: IceDogs centre Kyle Langdon was serving the second game of a six-game suspension for a blindside hit in the series opener … Generals forward Hayden McCool spent parts
‘‘ “This is playoffs. When you win two, you feel like you can walk on water and then you lose one and you feel like you’re in the gutter.” BILLY BURKE
NIAGARA ICEDOGS HEAD COACH
of two seasons with Niagara before going to the Windsor Spitfires and then to Oshawa … In the last playoff pitting the IceDogs and the Generals, Oshawa needed six games to sideline Niagara in the semifinals before going on to win the conference championship … The IceDogs went on to capture the east the following year before losing to the eventual Memorial Cup champion
London Knights in the league final.