Plymouth Whalers come alive; Bulls and Majors square series: OHL post-game questions

One second seed, Plymouth, has momentum back after winning on Tuesday. The other, Ottawa, might be on the run after successive overtime losses. Meantime, the Brampton Battalion are getting ready to break out the brooms.

Plymouth 7 Guelph 1 (Storm lead Western Conference series 2-0) — Who knew junior players take it personally when their coach calls them "old and cocky?" The Whalers rolled, with Ottawa Senators first-rounder Stefan Noesen scoring twice in the first 6 1/2 minutes on his way to a five-point game.

This completely followed the script a few folks anticipated coming into the series. Plymouth needed to be made to, in the words of White Goodman, bleed their own blood before getting engaged in the series. Their defence was much stronger than in Game 2, particularly signed Carolina Hurricanes draft choice Austin Levi, who earned three assists.

Re-reading the advance story, one gets the sense Storm coach Scott Walker knew this was coming. The Storm went all out in the first two games to build the series lead and there was bound to be some regression.

What might be Walker's top priorities before the next game in Guelph on Thursday? The bullet points might include tightening up the penalty kill after the Whalers went 5-for-8 on the power play. Making sure defenceman Andrey Pedan (minus-2 on Tuesday) doesn't press too much, particularly in defensive zone coverage.

One bit of good news for Storm fans that has to be mentioned, lack of smooth segue be damned. Beat writer Tony Saxon noted on his blog that Storm alumnus Mike Vellinga and his spouse, Andrea Vellinga, were in the stands. Andrea Vellinga is recovering from severe head injuries sustained in a concert stage collapse last August.

Belleville 4 Ottawa 3 in overtime (Eastern Conf. series tied 2-2) —

What has changed across the past two games as the Bulls have drawn even? The series has basically turned on shot quality.

The Bulls, who refocused after blowing a late three-goal lead before winning on Brady Austin's goal 7:46 into overtime, have had more dangerous shots in the past two games. (Memo to the OHL: please make this a thing officially.) The Bulls' control of the centre of the ice is why they have made this an all-new series heading into Game 5 on Friday (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, Sportsnet). They have also held their own physically against Ottawa, which was the more robust team much of the time during the first two games in its own rink.

Now can the Bulls overcome their capital curse (yet to win in Ottawa this decade)? Maybe so, maybe not. It would likely be easier to do so win Game 5 in Ottawa than Game 7.

How cruel would it have been to Austin if Belleville had lost? The undrafted 18-year-old is logging Ryan Ellis-like minutes for a team whose defensive depth, so it was fitting he ended it. Austin played at least 40 of the game's 68 minutes and carried the puck from his own goal line into the Ottawa zone before using defenceman Jake Cardwell as a screen and wristing the decider by star goalie Petr Mrazek (who has had an alarming tendency to get beaten from well out over the second half of the season).

On top of that, though, Austin and the Bulls getting their second OT win erased any bad memories of a missed chance in regulation. Belleville had a dead-to-rights chance to go up 4-1 late in the third period with Mrazek down and out of the goal. Austin was one of the Bulls with a shot at burying the puck. The Bulls somehow didn't score. Moments later, Ottawa's Ryan Van Stralen tallied on a broken play to complete a two-goal swing and up his team's chances of forcing overtime. The equalizer was also off a broken play.

Did this actually happen? During a stoppage in overtime, Chelsea Dagger was played over the Yardmen Arena's P.A. system. That seemed to tempt fate, since Ottawa is one of the teams which uses the ubiquitous sports anthem as its goal song. Austin's winner came a couple minutes later.

Mississauga 3 Barrie 2 (Eastern Conf. series tied 2-2) — Why will this series go seven, beyond the whole home-team-winning-each-game phenomenon? Mississauga has had a 12-7 benefit in power plays in its two home wins and Barrie's enjoyed a 12-8 edge in its two victories at the Barrie Molson Centre. That's a thin enough margin in a series between two evenly matched teams to explain the outcome.

Mississauga was more opportunistic on Tuesday. They were 2-for-4 on the power play, a vast improvement on their 1-for-16 through the first three games. Draft-year defenceman's Trevor Carrick's third-period game-winning goal came on on a one-time slapshot that probably misses the net nine times out of 10. Carrick's having a superb series, though, and it was found the range.

The Colts really are not showing much self-doubt, are they? The three-day break before Game 5 on Saturday means plenty of time to rest up to play speed game and design ways to overcome the Majors' neutral zone clogging ways. Goalie Mathias Niederberger, who had zero chance of stopping Carrick's score-untying rocket, is also matching Mississauga's Brandon Maxwell in the netminding battle. Really, all that separates these teams is a four-lane highway and the bounces.

Brampton 6 Sudbury 1 (Battalion lead Eastern Conf. series 3-0) — What do the Battalion have in common with a good workout program? Each involves spending a lot of time building strength in the back, even though it's not sexy. Coach Stan Butler has capitalized on having the luxury of having five defencemen who are in the second season together, trusting them to defend any 3-on-2s while turning his forwards loose with an aggressive forecheck.

So take a bow, Jordan Auld, Zach Bell, Dylan Blujus (three points tonight), Marcus McIvor and last but not least, Cameron Wind. They are the reason Brampton's been so confident in its forechecking game, although this is somewhat of a case of a no-show by the Wolves.

The Wolves had been outshot 97-48 and outscored 14-3. Who was the future brain surgeon who chose team to win this series? It was this future brain surgeon. Technically, the Sudbury-in-7 scenario remains in play, although it is just slightly more likely than Tim Tebow playing in the CFL.

The season series was close and the Wolves had some higher-end talent such as Michael Sgarbossa (Sudbury's only goal scorer tonight) that could have put them over the top. But their best overage, Andrey Kuchin, was only able to suit up for the first time on Tuesday. (Brampton's overages have outpointed Sudbury's 8-1.) The Wolves have also been bottled up in their own end far too much for a team with not-great defence. Goaltender Johan Mattsson has also been very beatable.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.