Storm’s third wind helps it sail by London 2-1 lead; Erie Otters sweep: OHL post-game questions

Kerby Rychel (3A, +2) and Robby Fabbri (2G, +2) gave Guelph its finishing kick as it wore down London for a road win, headlining a night where all four contested were either tied or a one-goal game in the final 75 seconds. On with the post-game questions:

Western Conference

Guelph 4 London 2, ENG (Storm lead 2-1, Knights host Game 4 on Thursday) — How long has it been, again, since the Storm suffered successive losses (see Sunday's wrap-up, it's in there somewhere)? It's now 57 games after Rychel threw off the yoke of a "very quiet game for 49 minutes," creating the chances that Fabbri rifled by Jake Patterson for the tying and go-ahead goals with 10:31 and 8:18 to play. While it was a skating game with the Storm mustering 51 shots and the Knights firing 41, Guelph clamped down on the odd-man rushes and the defensive cough-ups that added up to its unravelling on Sunday.

The sum total is now both teams have beaten each other on the road in regulation for the first time all season. Guelph stayed with it as it twice fell behind. Normally teams tend to lose their grip when London gets a third-period lead on a power-play goal, as it did when Chris Tierney tallied 3:31 into the third, just 17 seconds after the Storm were given two penalties on the same play.

The Storm ultimately just kept shooting, pulling out another win where it was tied in the third period. Get enough chances, and eventually a few will go in.

How much Twitter outrage would there have been if the Tierney 5-on-3 goal had given London its winning margin? A ton. One of the slings and arrows of London's hard-earned outrageous fortune is that not a post-season goes by without some venom being directed at the officials during a Knights playoff series. (That's not a validation of the criticisms; the OHL officials are trying to develop for the next level just like the players.) A year ago, Plymouth's Mike Vellucci was fined for calling referees "incompetent". In 2011, Owen Sound's Mark Reeds made ominous comments about London coach Dale Hunter and GM Mark Hunter being "men of power." That's all coincidental and circumstantial, of course, and it's only being dredged up to help sell the sizzle, even though the steak is already Grade-A.

Know this much: Guelph coach Scott Walker was not a happy camper, despite his team earning the series lead.

How healthy is Max Domi? The Phoenix Coyotes first-rounder, who had no points and was minus-2 after being shaken up by a check late in Game 2 on Sunday, was described as a being a little "ginger" (as in moving gingerly) by the Rogers TV London commentators. The Knights playmaker has surely played through bumps and bruises in the playoffs in each of the past two years, but might not be at 100 per cent.

London is basically running with four defencemen and having Nikita Zadorov take 30-minute workloads. Patterson has been superb in goal, though, reminding observers that he's less of a backup and more of the goalie who was on duty when London won three consecutive do-or-done games against Barrie in the 2013 final.

Erie 3 Sault Ste. Marie 2 (Otters sweep 4-0) — So did blowing through the 'Hounds at a Mark Buehrle-like briskness make the Otters the conference fave? Vancouver Canucks prospect Brendan Gaunce had the primary assists on the third-period tying and overtime winning goals as Erie completed a climb out of a 2-0 series deficit. The Otters, who swept by an aggregate 12-3, were coolly efficient as they absorbed the Soo's challenge and got the quick TKO. Joel Wigle ended it 7:22 into overtime.

Sweeping means Erie will likely have at least nine days off before Game 1 of the conference final. There's no knowing what the attrition could be for Erie's next opponent, but it's going to have all the prep time it could ever want. It has also yet to lose in regulation in the playoffs despite having some very credible opposition in the Greyhounds and Saginaw Spirit.

What is the Soo's solace? As much as losing four in a row hurts, the 'Hounds put up 95 points to win the West Division for the first time since 2008. Along the way, a cadre of youngsters in the age-16 through -18 cohorts such as Michael Bunting, Jared McCann, Blake Speers and Sergey Tolchinsky up front and defenders Tyler Ganly, Tyler Hore, Kyle Jenkins and Colton White all learned on the job. The program has come a long way since the outside-the-box to hire hometown GM Kyle Dubas in 2011. The young GM went big and bold by taking the plunge on bringing coach Sheldon Keefe into the fold, and that's helped with running a tighter ship.

Whether Darnell Nurse returns from the Edmonton Oilers for his fourth OHL season will have huge sway over the 2014-15 Hounds' prospectus, but at least Brandon Halverson is waiting in the wings to replace Pittsburgh Penguins farm system-bound goalie Matt Murray. The Soo, which had six 19-year-olds, has viable overage candidates to replace the departing forwards Andrew Fritsch, Tyler Gaudet and Patrick Watling. It might also retain more of its core than the Midwest Division's axis of awesomeness in Erie, Guelph and London.

Eastern Conference

Barrie 2 North Bay 1 (Battalion lead 2-1, Colts host Game 4 on Thursday) — What changed for Barrie? Overage forward Zach Hall returned from a two-game absence due to injury and scored a short-handed game-winner 8:03 into the second, deking Jake Smith after getting a cross-ice pass from Andreas Athanasiou, who had created a turnover at centre ice. Barrie probably wasn't possessed of any less certitude than it was during its two road losses (1-0 and 4-1, with all scoring in the third period), but the puck luck worked out for it, with Jake Dotchin opening scoring on a centre-point rocket through traffic while goalie Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 20-of-21 shots.

Forcing North Bay to play from behind made a world of difference. The Battalion could only get three shots in the second period and didn't really try to force the issue until very late. Alexander (Volvo) Henriksson's marker came with 1:39 left, leaving scarcely little time to score again.

It wasn't all Hall, but Barrie seemed a lot more ebullient. It still needs more scoring from reliable sources. Overage Mitch Theoret, who's played in the past two league finals, is goalless in the playoffs, although he did make a great play to tee up the Dotchin goal.

"Hallsy's a great leader, a great player," Colts forward Garrett Hooey told Rogers TV Barrie. "He brings so much to the table. In my eyes, he's one of the most underrated guys in the league."

What is the good news and the bad news for the Battalion, who had a five-game win streak end with the loss? The good for the Gateway City gang is that going up 3-0 would have been a stretch goal; realistically, it would be happy to split the road games and be up 3-1. The Colts also played their best game of the series and could only sneak two pucks by Smith despite enjoying the run of play.

Is it true video of each team's power play is being sent to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council? No, but man advantage is a misnomer. North Bay is 1-for-11 with a short-handed goal against and the Colts are 0-for-16. That makes the Toronto Blue Jays' Brett Lawrie's early-season batting line look good.

Oshawa 3 Peterborough 1, ENG (Generals lead 3-0, Petes host Game 4 on Thursday) — How did the Gens adapt to not having the suspended Scott Laughton? Laughton's absence created a bigger role for Cole Cassels (2G, +3), who was on for all of Oshawa's tallies as it pushed the Petes to the brink. Cassels' icebreaker 14:29 was a beaut, as he gamboled across the offensive zone and caused Petes captain Connor Boland to stumble before besting Andrew D'Agostini on an against-the-grain shot into the stick-side corner.

Carolina Hurricanes-drafted goalie Daniel Altshuller stopped 36-of-37 shots, although his scoreless skein ended at 182 minutes 17 seconds.

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