Anthony Luciani's fourth goal of the game came 4:03 into overtime as the Erie Otters edged the Windsor Spitfires 6-5 in Ontario Hockey League action Friday night.
Luciani stole the puck from Spitfires all-star defenceman Ryan Ellis at the side of the net and slipped a shot through goaltender Jack Campbell's pads to force Game 6 on Sunday. Windsor leads the first round series 3-2.
Windsor overcame a three-goal deficit in the third period to force overtime, but could not complete the comeback.
Phil Varone added a goal and four assists for the Otters, while Derek Holden chipped in with a goal and two helpers.
Ryan Ellis, Adrian Robertson and Alexander Khokhlachev had a goal and an assist for Windsor, while Jake Carrick and Kerby Rychel also scored.
Ramis Sadikov, who was pulled in the previous two games, was stellar in net for Erie making 50 saves. Jack Campbell turned away 25 shots for Windsor.
Elsewhere in the OHL it was: Oshawa 6 Kingston 2 and Kitchener 6 Plymouth 4.
At Windsor, Ont., Erie opened the scoring with Luciani's first goal of the game, a redirected cross-crease pass from Varone 7:11 into the first period.
The Otters took two quick penalties to start the second period and Windsor scored just as the second penalty expired when Robertson fired a shot from the right side that squeezed through Sadikov's pads 3:34 into the period.
Erie's power play, which had scored on three of its last 27 chances, got its opportunity later in the period and it capitalized with three goals in a seven minute span with the man advantage.
Varone gave the Otters a 2-1 lead when he split two defenders at the Spitfires' blue line and fired a wrist shot past Campbell.
Less than three minutes later Holden fired a wrist shot through a screen to extend Erie's lead. Then Luciani deflected Holden's shot from the point past Campbell for a 4-1 Otters' lead with four minutes left in the period.
The Spitfires gained some momentum on Khokhlachev's power-play goal 4:41 into the third period. But Luciani completed his hat trick -- the eighth three-goal game in the franchise's playoff history -- by firing a rebound into an open net 1:10 later. Varone assisted on the goal to tie the Otters' single-game playoff record with five points set by Brad Boyes (twice) in 2002.
Windsor cut the lead to two on Rychel's goal with 10:57 left. The Spitfires completed their dramatic comeback with two goals in 41 seconds. Jake Carrick slid a shot past Sadikov to make it a one-goal game with 3:50 left. Then during a wild scramble in front of the net, Ellis fired a slapshot through the crowd to tie the score at five with 3:09 left.
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Generals 6 Frontenacs 2
At Oshawa, Ont., defenceman Tony DeHart had two goals and five points as the Generals closed out their first round playoff series with a victory over Kingston.
Oshawa will now move on to face the Niagara IceDogs in the second round.
Boone Jenner had himself a game too, scoring once and assisting on two others for Oshawa. Also scoring for the Generals were Christian Thomas, Lucas Lessio and Scott Valentine.
Ryan Spooner and Sean Jones scored for Kingston.
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Rangers 6 Whalers 4
At Kitchener, the Rangers got three goals from Jason Akeson to stave off elimination with a win over Plymouth.
The Whalers still lead the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final series 3-2. Game 6 of the series is Saturday night in Plymouth, Mich.
Michael Catenacci also chipped in two goals for the Rangers, while Jerry D'Amigo had one.
Robbie Czarnik had two goals for the Whalers, while Stefan Noesen and Alex Aleardi had one each.
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