IceDogs tie 67's with OT win; Colts, Storm need one more OHL post-game questions

The I's had it — Niagara's Brendan Perlini, Barrie's Joseph Blandisi and Guelph's Givani Smith scored  overtime winners during Wednesday's three-game slate. On with the post-game questions:

Eastern Conference

Niagara 4 Ottawa 3, overtime (series tied 2-2, 67's host Game 5 on Friday) — How did Niagara's line-stacking shuffle nearly backfire, and then pay off? For the first time in the series, a road team was competitive, as Ottawa had the run of play in the second and was better in the third, as defenceman Nevin Guy scored top shelf early in the frame to give it the lead. The IceDogs, staring at a potential 3-1 deficit, went all in and reunited the Carter Verhaeghe-Perlini-Josh Ho-Sang line midway through the third, even though the latter's line with Jordan Maletta and Billy Jenkins had factored into five of their previous eight goals.

After Graham Knott got the equalizer with 2:42 left in the third after a failed 67's clearing try, the new line had a defensive breakdown in the first 90 seconds of overtime. Niagara caught a break, though, with a quick whistle after a shot squeaked through goalie Brandon Hope's paraphernia and lay loose in the crease. At 6:03, Perlini, the Arizona Coyotes prospect, poked the puck by defenceman Jacob Middleton and circled the net, while Ho-Sang occupied the attention of both defenceman Alex Lintuniemi and left wing Travis Barron. Furnished such a skew of space, Perlini picked a corner to make the series a best-of-3, as it returns to the nation's capital.

Why should Ottawa feel a little buoyed by their performance? Goalie Liam Herbst (26 saves), who couldn't be faulted on the tying goal or the decider, bounced back with a solid effort after being relieved after two periods on Monday. Ottawa, which had a strong effort from Travis Konecny (1G-1A), played a solid 40-45 minutes in a building where it had played poorly in two previous games.

On the surface, though, it is a stomach punch loss after being three minutes from a 3-1 lead, but Ottawa coach Jeff Brown is quite capable of picking up his players' spirits. The 67's certainly have issues; for instance, the Sam Studnicka-Jeremiah Addison-Dante Salituro line was blanked in Niagara outside of two window-dressing markers in Game 3, while Lintuniemi had an inauspicious night with a minus-4. Still, it has the extra home game left in what's been a homer series.

Barrie 2 Belleville 1, overtime (Colts lead 3-0, Bulls host Game 4 on Thursday) — How blessed was Barrie? Against nearly anyone but a team this blog ranked 55th out of 60 in major junior at the end of the regular season, the Colts would not have got away with facing nine short-handed situations, including back-to-back 5-on-3s late in the second and at the start of the third. Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, made the biggest of his 42 saves during that span, diving to stop Bulls overage Brett Gustavsen on the doorstep in the final seconds of Period 2.

(Astute Colts fans might remember that Gustavsen, with Ottawa, scored the Game 7 overtime winner against them in 2012.)

The Colts were able get through 66 seconds of being two skaters down at the start of the third and get to overtime. Blandisi's winner came just 1:34 in on a setup from Kevin Labanc.

Thursday could be the final OHL game in Belleville. Only 2,300 turned out to the Yardmen Arena on Wednesday.

Western Conference

Guelph 3 Owen Sound 2, overtime (Storm lead 3-1, host Game 5 on Saturday) — How much did the Storm play with fire? Try five consecutive penalties in the second period (the parade stopped, oddly enough, as soon as Owen Sound scored) and having to play short-handed in the final 2½ minutes while down by one. Garrett McFadden, though, the 17-year-old defenceman who scored only two regular-season goals, affirmed necessity is the mother of invention with a sensational short-hander with 1:27 left. After carrying over the Attack blue line, McFadden took a wrister and followed his shot like a basketball player, batting a high rebound behind goalie Jack Flinn to force overtime.

That was deflating. The Attack, who had 48 shots in regulation, had only two in the sudden-victory session on Justin Nichols (48 saves) before another 17-year-old, Givani Smith, deposited a rebound at 5:24.

For those scoring at home, Guelph's tying and winning goals came from two guys with a combined 10 lifetime OHL goals. Smith, the main return in Guelph's Ben Harpur trade, has moved up the lineup due to his ruggedness. McFadden is also a former first-rounder who's been afforded more time due to injuries to older defencemen. Interestingly enough, one of his two regular-season goals also came on a rink-length rush in Owen Sound, on Oct. 4.

What's is the most shocking Attack stat? No slight on Daniel Milne, who had a fine 22-goal overage season and is probably a great guy, but the left wing is the only Owen Sound player with more than one goal in the four games. The Attack are more about the anyone-on-any-given-night approach, relying on their cycling and forechecking to create chances, so it's not entirely unsurprising that one individual talent hasn't emerged. The quality chances didn't materialize Wednesday, while despite the high quantity of shots.

Nichols has also played better since being pulled in Game 1, which has made it that much tougher for 19-year-old stars Kyle Platzer (1G-4A in the series) and Zach Nastasiuk (1G). Overage Holden Cook, who was hurt late in the regular season, is goal-less after getting 15 in 42 regular-season games. It's also unfair to expect too much of a 17-year-old Finn, but Petrus Palmu didn't score his first of the series until tonight.

The Attack have not been outplayed, but Guelph has a better conversion rate. The Storm have only a 9-7 goals for/goals against when the power-play tallies are factored out. Regardless, the Attack are left with the least possible room for error. It's sitting much prettier if not for McFadden's hustle play.

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