Plymouth Whalers outlast London, win longest game in franchise’s history: OHL post-game questions

Tom Wilson was beastin', young Alex Nedeljkovic was unbeatable through 30-plus minutes of overtime as the Plymouth Whalers beat London in their longest game in franchise history. On with the post-game questions:

Plymouth 4 London 3, 2OT (Western final tied 1-1, Game 3 Tuesday at Plymouth) — Does Plymouth win this game without No. 10? Put is this way: it will be a fail if there is no @TomWilsonFacts Twitter created before Sunday night slips down. Wilson created all four Whalers goals, including the series-saver with 48 seconds left in regulation when he got London's overage Tommy Hughes turned around, then used the ensuing slew of time to snap a shot in off the crossbar.

In the second overtime, Wilson hit the ice to help clear the zone and help Plymouth survive its third short-handed situation in OT and 10th of the night. An Alex Broadhurst hooking penalty later (possible makeup call), Wilson outworked the Knights in front of the goal, poking the puck free for Rickard Rakell to poke in the winner.

Endearingly, the Washington Capitals first-rounder also copped to a mistake that led to one of London's two power-play goals. The Knights were in position to win after Max Domi snapped a goal in from the slot with 9:54 left in the third.

"I just was trying to play hard and play for the guys," the 6-foot-4 right wing said. "I had a giveaway on the penalty kill and they scored. I just wanted to get back out there and luckily I did in the last minute.

"There was one shift I think we hit three posts," Wilson said. "We were trying to up the tempo tonight and I think we did a good job of that."

At 90 minutes 16 seconds, the game was the longest in the 23-season history of the Plymouth franchise. The previous mark of 90:02 was set March 22, 1997, when Mike Morrone scored at 10:02 of double overtime for the Whalers in a 4-3 double overtime win against Joe Thornton and the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Will the teams trade chances like this again at any point again in the series? After a pre-dilly-ictable opener where London sandwiched two greasy goals around a redirect marker, it looked more like a game with 21 NHL draft picks (and counting). It's not often London has two third-period leads slip through its grasp, but it happened.

"It was a great hockey game, for the fans and everybody," Whalers coach-GM Mike Vellucci said. "It was end-to-end and a lot of chances. I thought our guys dug deep. We got down, we kept battlin'. I think it was only fitting that we score on the power play after killing so many. Our penalty killers did a great job, they had 10 power plays."

Plymouth prevailed despite a 10-5 disadvantage in power plays. London went 2-for-10 while the Whalers went 2-for-5, breaking a skein of nine in a row without a goal. Somehow the Whalers had enough stamina in reserve in the second overtime despite all the energy spent playing short-handed. The power-play disparity could also account for OHL scoring leader Vince Trocheck (+2) going scoreless. He was otherwise occupied.

"You usually you your best guys to kill and they're tired," Vellucci. "I used Trocheck for the draws and Willie [Tom Wilson] for the draws. We threw Michael Whaley,a fourth-line guy, in there. We had [forward Zach] Lorentz out there. That's why you put in the extra time."

Vellucci did not resist a jab at referees Ryan Carroll and Scott Oakman for the second too many men penalty against his team.

"One of them was a good call, one of them was a terrible call. The first one, one of our defencemen turned the puck over at their blueline and we didn't get a good change. The other one? I have no idea why he made that call."

Was Nedeljkovic (61 saves on 64 shots) and Plymouth's PK that good, or did the Knights not press hard enough during the overtime power plays? On the whole, London's power play was strong throughout, with Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Olli Määttä coming up with some big keep-ins to help sustain pressure. Plymouth mostly kept the crease clear, while Nedeljkovic was sharp with his rebound control whenever Domi was lurking.

"We had chances," Knights coach Dale Hunter said. "Goalie made some big stops. That's part of hockey. That's what hockey all about. You work hard, that's all you ask of the kids."

Does Plymouth coming back to tie the game three times, including twice in the third period, reflect any shortcoming on London's part? It reflects more on Plymouth pushing through the frustration that has consumed many a team that has tried to break through the labyrinth that is Hunter Hockey. The Whalers deserved to have more than two goals through the first five periods of the series against Knights goalie Anthony Stolarz. The evenout came in the third, when Wilson scored twice.

"You can go two ways when you're getting chances and you're not scoring, you can get really negative or you can get really excited," Vellucci said. I give credit to our guys, between the second and third period we talked about it. 'Which way do you want to go? Stay positive and get those chances, or go negative?' And they stayed positive."

How did the Knights handle being unable to preserve a late lead, which was part of their Game 1 win? London drew a power play in the first 30 seconds of overtime and took 10 shots at Nedeljkovic in the first seven minutes of the sudden-victory session. If they were a hurtin' unit after Wilson forced overtime, then they had a funny show of showing it.

"I thought we responded pretty well," Knights captain Scott Harrington said. "We worked hard and competed hard in overtime. We had power plays and a lot of chances and for whatever reason, they didn't go in. We've been on the other side of it too this year where we score a late one [as Plymouth did] and then take it in overtime.

"It's the first time in the playoffs that our series has been tied 1-1, so Game 3 is a big one," added Harrington, a Pittsburgh Penguins prospect who was a runner-up for OHL defenceman of the year honours in each of the past two seasons.

When will Knights wing Matt Rupert (lower-body injury) participate in the series Not before Game 5.

"He's got to start skating first," Hunter said. "He won't play the next two games."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.