Music: {allcanada} OHL: ATTACK BEAT WHALERS TO TAKE 3-0 SERIES LEAD

Monday, April 11, 2011

{allcanada} OHL: ATTACK BEAT WHALERS TO TAKE 3-0 SERIES LEAD

OWEN SOUND, Ont. -- Robby Mignardi scored twice to give the Owen Sound Attack a 4-1 victory over the Plymouth Whalers and a commanding 3-0 lead in their Ontario Hockey League best-of-seven semifinal.

The Attack will have a chance to complete the sweep in Game 4 on Wednesday in Plymouth, Mich.

Owen Sound opened the scoring eight minutes into the game on Mignardi's first goal, then doubled their lead midway through the second when Andrew Shaw scored while on the power play for his third of the playoffs.

Plymouth lacked discipline in the game, giving the Attack eight power play opportunities.

Mignardi capitalized on the man advantage at 12:22 of the second to put the Whalers in a 3-0 hole while Jarrod Maidens made 4-0 with under a minute left in the period, chasing Plymouth goalie Scott Wedgewod.

RJ Mahalak spoiled Scott Stajcer's shutout bid at 6:39 of the final period. Stajcer finished with 25 saves on 26 shots.

Wedgewod stopped 30 shots before Matt Mahalak came in and turned aside all nine he faced.

Niagara 5, Oshawa 3

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. -- Mark Visentin made 46 saves as the Niagara IceDogs downed the Oshawa Generals 5-3 in Ontario Hockey League playoff action Monday night.

The IceDogs opened a 4-0 first period lead on goals from Ryan Strome, Simon Gronvaldt, Andrew Agozzino and Darren Archibald.

Agozzino's second goal of the game with nine seconds left in regulation time, into an empty net, sealed the victory for Niagara which took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Andy Andreoff scored on a penalty shot in the dying seconds of the second period to put Oshawa on the board. Scott Laughton made it 4-2 at the 13:21 mark of the third period, and Boone Jenner cut the IceDogs lead to one at the 19:13 mark with a power-play goal. B

Visentin faced 36 shots over the final 40 minutes as Oshawa outshot Niagara 49-33 overall.

Peter Di Salvo made 28 saves in the loss, as the Generals went 1-for-6 on the power play. Niagara was 1-for-5.

Game four in the series goes Wednesday night in Oshawa.