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Dylan Strome bails out Otters in overtime; London, North Bay, Soo up 3-0: OHL post-game questions

WINDSOR, ON - SEPTEMBER 26: Connor McDavid #97 and Dylan Strome #19 of the Erie Otters skate against the Windsor Spitfires on September 26, 2014 at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Dennis Pajot/Getty Images)
WINDSOR, ON - SEPTEMBER 26: Connor McDavid #97 and Dylan Strome #19 of the Erie Otters skate against the Windsor Spitfires on September 26, 2014 at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Dennis Pajot/Getty Images)

Dylan Strome decided enough was enough and scored in OT to give Erie a 3-1 series lead, while Mitchell Marner's six-point binge helped London leave Kitchener on its last leg. On with the post-game questions:

Western Conference

Erie 4 Sarnia 3 (in OT; Otters lead 3-1, host Game 5 on Friday) — How far will the four-goal comeback go toward getting the Otters to keep the metaphorical switch flipped? The Otters were missing and presumed scared after facing their third multi-goal hole in four games. Buoyed by defenceman Kevin Spinozzi scoring a short-hander in the third-minute, the Sting scored on three of their first six shots to chase Erie goalie Devin Williams after just 12 minutes and 58 seconds at a raucous RBC Centre.

Even with Connor McDavid (1A) being hounded by Sting overage D-man Josh Chapman, the Otters pared down the deficit and relief goalie Daniel Dekoning didn't allow another goal. Strome hit the post in overtime and was stopped by Taylor Dupuis (41 saves) on a breakaway before ending it at 10:35, retrieving his own tipped shot and scoring.   . 

"It was a great win for us," Strome told TV Cogeco Sarnia. "Down 3-0, it's all about the comeback. It feels so good now.

"Deke stood tall for us," Strome added. I don't know who's going to start Game 5 for us, but that's what he's there for, to come in when Willy [Williams] doesn't have a great start. Deke stepped up and it showed. Good on him."

Erie coach Kris Knoblauch has two days to decide on a Game 5 goalie. Williams (.867 save percentage in the series) is fighting the puck, but Tuesday was also Dekoning's first playoff exposure.

What was the silver lining for the Sting in losing a second one-goal decision in a row? Late in regulation, coach Trevor Letowski put out a line of 17-year-old Pavel Zacha with 16-year-olds Jordan Kyrou and Anthony Salintri. With the game and series up for grabs, the all-non-voting-age line cycled the puck and generated a chance. That vignette showed that the Sting have something going with Letowski and GM Nick Sinclair, who are in the not exactly tension-free position of having inherited new highers-up when the team was sold to Derian Hatcher and David Legwand in January.

Of course, the Sting have done all this while the paradigm of hope, rookie defenceman Jakob Chychrun, has been unable to play due to a shoulder ailment.

Legwand and Hatcher must be loving the fact that the Sting being a tough out will help with the club's 201-16 sales pitch. That goes regardless of whether the series ends on Friday night.

London 10 Kitchener 6 (Knights lead 3-0, Rangers host Game 4 on Thursday) — How ridiculously on was the Knights' attack? Mitchell Marner (2G-4A, +3) had his third multi-goal game in a row as London continued to rent space in between Kitchener goalie Jake Paterson's ears, pulling away after the teams were tied 5-5 after the first 40 minutes. London basically scored on every good chance it had in the third, which shouldn't really happen on the road in the playoffs against a team that played better than .500 hockey in the second half.

The Knights, even with their occasional erratic defensive play, still have a certitude about being able to outscore teams when needed. A sweep seems imminent.

How angry are Rangers fans going to be if this ends on Thursday night? Kitchener isn't licked, but it's yet to string together three good periods in the series, which isn't a portent of a comeback from a 3-0 deficit. And the Knights aren't the type to let a team off the deck. If it ends soon, it will be the third time in four seasons the Rangers have lost to the Knights in short order. The fact only 5,524 were at the Aud on Tuesday amounts to the populace's mass editorial comment on the state of the proud franchise.

Guelph 2 Owen Sound 1 (Storm lead 2-1, Attack host Game 4 on Wednesday) Is Justin Nichols all the way back? The 19-year-old goalie made 34 saves, including a skein of 10-bell second-period stops and a sprawling arm save on Attack captain Zach Nastasiuk in the final minutes. The Storm absolutely needed a peak showing from the St. Catharines, Ont., native to regain the home-ice advantage, as it was vexed to sustain much offence after Tyler Bertuzzi got the icebreaker for four goals in four periods and Robby Fabbri also scored for a 2-0 lead after one period.

The Attack have outshot the Storm 73-51 across the past two losses. Odds are that Owen Sound, which was pressuring in the last minute before star centre Kyle Platzer had to take a desperate hooking penalty to keep Bertuzzi from breaking away for an empty-net attempt, will have its puck luck turn around.

Sault Ste. Marie 4 Saginaw 0 (Greyhounds lead 3-0, Spirit host Game 4 on Thursday) Is this essentially what was expected? The J. Ross Robertson Cup favourites have a 17-3 goal differential after Tuesday's shutout, where the Jared McCann-Michael Bunting-Sergey Tolchinsky trio combined for five points and Nick Ritchie chipped in a solo effort. The Greyhounds are betraying much less vulnerability than the league's other two 100-point teams.

Eastern Conference

Peterborough 3 Oshawa 1 (Generals lead 2-1, Petes host Game 4 on Wednesday) Gee, how valuable is Cam Lizotte to the Petes? The 17-year-old was a game-time decision to play, but Lizotte (2A, +2) sucked it up and helped shut down Michael Dal Colle (-3) as the Petes left the Generals with a case of perimeteritis. At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, Lizotte, who won't even be 18 years old until a few days before next season's training camps, is one Petes defender who is sturdy enough to stand up to the Gens' bashing style of forechecking. His and others' work, as the Petes packed defenders around the net, helped goalie Matt Mancina bear up under a 47-shot workload.

It's debatable whether starting the series with a rout last Friday gave the 108-point Generals some false sense of security. Maybe so, maybe not, but coming out slowlyafter a game-tying late first-period goal and falling behind again 1:16 into the second on a goal by Kyle Jenkins, another youngish Petes D-man who's having a strong series, was out of character for Oshawa.

North Bay 3 Kingston 1 (Battalion lead 3-0, Frontenacs host Game 4 on Wednesday) What more could the Fronts have done to beat Jake Smith? The Battalion goalie, whatever the reason, has thrown off the yoke of an only-okay regular season to look impregnable through three games, as he made 20 of his 46 saves (a legit 46, not a trigger-happy shot-counter 46) during the third period to help his team herd the Frontenacs a little closer to the exit.

Smith made a sensational toe save on Lawson Crouse (who scored his second of the series) with three minutes left, and the Battalion were in full scramble mode in the late stages as they hung on. Kingston had a better night on faceoffs after North Bay owned the dot in its two home games, and it still wasn't enough.

It's the fourth Kingston playoff series in a row that has been 3-0 after Game 3.

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