Music: {allcanada} OTTERS DEFEAT ICE DOGS TO CAPTURE THEIR SECOND STRAIGHT WIN

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

{allcanada} OTTERS DEFEAT ICE DOGS TO CAPTURE THEIR SECOND STRAIGHT WIN

ERIE, Pa. -- Shawn Szydlowski's power-play goal with 5:04 left in regulation broke a tie and led the Erie Otters a 4-2 win against Niagara IceDogs in OHL action Wednesday night.

Erie (19-18-2) earned its second straight win before 2,712 fans at Tullio Arena. The Otters moved from eighth into a tie for fifth with Plymouth in the Western Conference standings.

Erie was bolstered by the return of rookie defenceman Adam Pelech, who along with teammate Chris Marchese helped Ontario win the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Winnipeg. Marchese was scratched from the lineup.

Pelech helped the Otters thwart the IceDogs (23-10-4) during a four-minute power play early in the first. Less than two minutes after that man advantage expired, Otters captain Greg McKegg turned defenceman David Shields' seemingly innocent dump-in into the game's opening goal.

An IceDogs defender stopped the dump-in but McKegg grabbed the loose puck and flipped a backhand past Dalton McGrath at the 7:32 mark. McGrath replaced starter Mark Visentin, who was in goal for Canada against Russia in the world junior hockey final Wednesday night.

The Otters outshot Niagara 11-6 in the second but the IceDogs managed the only goal as Freddie Hamilton deflected a shot past goaltender Ramis Sadikov with 1:42 left in the period.

The Otters appeared to go ahead on McKegg's deflection early in the third but it was ruled no goal because McKegg played the puck with a high stick. The ruling was upheld by the video replay judge.

But McKegg registered his 27th goal of the season for a 2-1 lead 6:39 into the period. However, Ryan Strome slipped a shot past Sadikov to make it 2-2 at 8:39 before Szydlowski broke the tie.

David Broll rounded out the scoring at 17:58.