Josh McFadden and Michael Sgarbossa scored goals 58 seconds apart early in the third period Thursday night and the Sudbury Wolves rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Ottawa 67's to complete a surprising sweep of their first-round Ontario Hockey League playoff series.
The 67's scored first and were up 3-1 at one point, but the Wolves scored four unanswered goals. McFadden scored the winner when his shot from the point changed direction off a 67's player and beat Petr Mrazek at 6:35 of the third, period less than a minute after Sgarbossa's second goal of the game.
"It's the kind of thing we had all series, we just never gave up," Sgarbossa said.
Sgarbossa and Joshua Leivo, with an assist, each scored shorthanded while Eric O'Dell scored into an empty net with 6.9 seconds remaining to seal the win for the Wolves.
The second-seeded 67's were playing in their home rink for the first time in the best-of-seven matchup. They opened the series at Scotiabank Place, home of the NHL's Ottawa Senators, before playing twice in Sudbury.
However, it will be the 67's only home playoff game after dropping four straight to the underdog Wolves, who were seventh in the Eastern Conference during the season, finishing 31 points back of the 67's.
"We knew all along (people) weren't expecting too much of us and that's what we wanted," Sgarbossa said.
Elsewhere in the OHL, it was: Niagara 4, Brampton 1; London 5, Owen Sound 2 and Saginaw 4, Guelph 3.
At Ottawa, Gregory Jambrosich had two assists and Alain Valiquette made 34 saves for Sudbury, which lost forward Marcus Foligno in the first period after he was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for a hit to the head of Adam Sedlak. The 67's defenceman left the game with an apparent shoulder or collarbone injury and didn't return.
Dalton Smith had two goals, including a power-play marker, and Shane Prince also scored for Ottawa.
Tyler Toffoli recorded two assists and Mrazek finished with 32 stops.
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IceDogs 4, Battalion 1
At Brampton, Ont., Andrew Aggozino scored twice as Niagara beat the Battallion to complete a first round sweep.
Johnson Andrews and Myles Doan also counted for the IceDogs.
Stephon Thorne replied for Brampton.
Mark Visentin made 28 saves for Niagara. Cody St. Jacques was chased from the Battalion net after giving up four goals on 11 shots. Matej Machovsky stopped all 13 shots he faced.
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Knights 5, Attack 2
At London, Ont., Jared Knight scored twice to pace the Knights to a win over Owen Sound.
London evened the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final 2-2, with Game 5 slated for Owen Sound, Ont., on Saturday.
Dane Fox, Matt Rupert and Seth Griffith also beat Attack goalie Jordan Binnington and chased the 17-year-old by the eight-minute mark of the third period. Binnington allowed five goals on 40 shots and was replaced by Tampa Bay prospect Michael Zador.
Dylan MacEachern and Sacha Guimond each had a pair of assists for London, the No. 8 seed in the conference.
Owen Sound, which won 46 of 68 games in the regular season to lead the Western Conference standings, got goals from Keevin Cutting and Brendan Childerley.
Michael Houser stopped 35 shots for the Attack.
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Spirit 4, Storm 3
Ay Guelph, Ont., Mavric Parks made 30 saves, including 14 in a big second period, and Saginaw edged the Storm.
The Western Conference quarter-final series is tied 2-2. Game 5 is Saturday in Saginaw, Mich.
The Spirit scored all their goals on 16 shots in a busy second period for both goaltenders. Jordan Swarz, Brad Walch, John McFarland and Josh Shalla all beat Guelph goalie Brandon Foote. Ryan O'Connor added two assists.
Francis Menard scored twice for Guelph, while Kyle Pereira had the other goal. Foote finished with 26 saves.
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