The Ottawa 67’s are officially off to the second round of the OHL Playoffs.
Ottawa earned a hard-fought 4-2 victory over the Oshawa Generals in Game 5, Saturday afternoon, officially locking up their first-round series. Logan Morrison again scored a pair of goals, before Luca Pinelli found the late game-winner, and Brady Stonehouse salted the game away with an empty-netter. Max Donoso was brilliant in goal, for the second straight game, stopping 33 of 35 shots.
“That’s playoff hockey,” said Head Coach Dave Cameron. “Nobody rolls over and dies, you knew they were going to come out hard after the last game. We battled some nerves early, Max was real good in the first, and we got better as the game went on.”
Playing for their lives, the Generals came out hot, and opened the scoring on an early powerplay, thanks to Ryan Gagnier banging in a rebound. Just like that, the 67’s found themselves down 1-0, just 6:01 into the game.
As has been the case throughout the series, though, Morrison led the charge in response. The OA forward took a pass from Pavel Mintyukov, and rifled a slot shot past Jacob Oster to tie the game at the midway point of the period.
Morrison came through again early in the second, giving the 67’s their first lead of the day. On a similar play to his first goal, he cut inside after receiving a feed from Vinzenz Rohrer, and with an elite release, beat Oster up high again, making it 2-1.
“A lot of it is confidence,” said Morrison, after yet another First Star performance. “You get to a point, these last few games, where you feel like every shot you take is going to go in, but I expect myself to produce for this team. We’re excited to be on to Round 2.”
The middle frame, like the first, was all Oshawa despite the home side taking the lead. The Generals carried a 32-20 shots on goal advantage into the third, and as part of the onslaught, Gagnier’s second of the game tied it just six minutes after Morrison’s.
Not wanting another game to slip away from them late, the 67’s outshot Oshawa 12-3 in the final period, and pressed all period for the go-ahead goal. Morrison rang one off the crossbar, before the 67’s missed an open net, but the breakthrough finally appeared with just over five minutes to play.
Rohrer cycled the puck to Anthony Costantini at the Oshawa blue line, and his shot was tipped home by Pinelli out front, sending the nearly 2,500 67’s fans in attendance into a frenzy.
With time winding down, Oshawa pulled Oster for the extra attacker, but Stonehouse iced the game with an empty-netter, as the clock read seven seconds, securing the 4-2 victory, and Ottawa’s spot in the second round.
The 67’s will get some well-earned time off, as they await their second-round opponent.
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