'Not great' Niagara IceDogs beat inert 67's, Barrie goes up 2-0: OHL post-game questions

ST. CATHARINES, Ont.— Josh Ho-Sang's linemates Billy Jenkins and Jordan Maletta scored two goals apiece as Niagara conjured up a perhaps series-turning win over Ottawa. Elsewhere, New Jersey Devils prospect Joseph Blandisi and Co. in Barrie had a point night whilst taking a two-game lead over Belleville.

On with the post-game questions:

Eastern Conference

Niagara 6 Ottawa 2 (67's lead 2-1, IceDogs host Game 4 on Wednesday) — What led to the 'Dogs tightening up their defence? Ottawa had countless jailbreak odd-man rushes while opening with 8-5 and 8-2 wins last week in the nation's capital. The IceDogs limited the dangerous-looking rushes and allowed few swift breakouts, limiting the 67's to 23 shots.

"When you get 16 goals scored on you in the first two games, there's a lot of video to watch," IceDogs coach-GM Marty Williamson said. "There were a lot of mistakes. I thought we were a better team — tighter, together. I thought we learned a couple things about them with our pressure and keeping our four lines going. It was a hard-fought game. There were no gimmes other than maybe the empty-net goal.

The start of the series was also a microcosm of Niagara's regular season, where it finished 10 games above .500 despite a 2-13 start while waiting to get settled into the new Meridian Centre.

"We've had some adversity with having such a horrible start to our season," said Wiliamson, who came back with overage goalie Brandon Hope (21 saves). "It seems like it's a similiar start here. Both teams have had great home records and it seems like we're playing up to that a bit. But we're still down 2-1 and we have to make sure we fight for every inch on Wednesday."

How has the psyche job changed with Jeff Brown? Pre-series Jeff Brown played up the IceDogs as a (junior hockey nerd alert) latter-day version of the 1983 Portland Winterhawks. Mid-series Jeff Brown emphasized that his team should believe by now it is eminently capable of downing Niagara, even if its play didn't relate as much on Monday.

"As good as our stars were in the first two games, that's how bad they were tonight," said the Ottawa coach, whose team was scoreless until left wing Jeremiah Addison sniped his fourth and fifth goals of the series in the third. "I don't know what it was. Everybody decided to take the night off. It's playoff hockey. It's not easy. We talked about it the last two days. don't let your high get too high and it's going to be hard coming in here. They [Niagara] weren't great. Like they were not great. Like they were just waiting to see how we were going to come out and we just showed them, 'hey, we're not coming out.' And they just started taking it to us."

"There were 100 scouts and if you can't play on the road in the playoffs, people are going to take notice," Brown added. "I don't want to take anything away from them, but we were that bad. And we handed it to them."

What's been critical for Niagara finding some linemates who can read Josh Ho-Sang? Jenkins is an overage who hit the 20-goal milestone only over five seasons, while the 19-year-old Maletta's regular-season tally of 24 matched his output from his first three in the league. Yet the line was dominant, accounting for 4-of-6 'Dogs goals. Toronto Maple Leafs signing Carter Verhaeghe also chipped in his first of the series.

"You've got to be patient to play with Josh," Williamson said. "Both of them are easy to coach and easy to accept things, Maletta just needs to use his speed and Jenkins is a speed guy, but Jenkins has good finish as well. You just got to be ready for the puck at any times. I thought Josh played one of his best structured games that he's played for us. When he plays like that he's easy to play with."

Jenkins' two goals came while his mother, Julia Jenkins, was celebrating her birthday.

Why did Brown lift goalie Liam Herbst (four goals on 32 shots) after the second period? It was a bit of a message to the rest of the 67's.

"I talked to Paul [Schonfelder, Ottawa's goalie coach] and Herbst has been real good for us; he wasn't bad," Brown said. "It was just trying to shake the team up."

Down 5-2, Brown decided to pull relief goalie Leo Lazarev with 5½ minutes remaining. Niagara won the next faceoff and scored into the empty net.

Barrie 8 Belleville 2 (Colts lead 2-0, Bulls host Game 4 on Wednesday) — How capable are the Bulls of containing the Colts on the Olympic ice? The 'barnyard battle' only commences twice during the regular season, so there is little sample size to lean on. For whatever it is worth, Barrie romped 9-3 in its lone (and as it's turned out, last regular-season) visit to the Yardmen Arena on Nov. 23, before it loaded up with its trade with Guelph for Ottawa Senators-signed defenceman Ben Harpur (four points in the first two games).

Barrie also won twice on the big ice during the 2013 Eastern final, including the Game 7 win over the Bulls. Conventional wisdom stands that an underdog team can keep a more potent opponent out to the perimeter on Olympic-size ice, but the Colts might be capable of adapting.

“We do have a lot of speed, but they play all of their home games there, so they’re used to it,” Colts wing Cordell James, who was named the No. 2 star of Monday's win, told the Barrie Examiner. “They know what to do there, so we’ll see when the game comes.”

Blandisi had four points on Monday for the Colts, who were also 5-for-7 on the power play.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.