GATINEAU, Que. -- Ryan Tesink scored at 19:15 of the second overtime Wednesday night to lift the Saint John Sea Dogs to a 4-3 victory over the Gatineau Olympiques in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League final.
Tesink scored on the Sea Dogs' 64th shot of the night after being set up in front of Maxime Clermont by Stanislav Galiev, who had three assists.
Clermont got a piece of the puck, but it dropped behind him with 44.1 seconds remaining in the fifth period and the Sea Dogs headed for home with a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Zack Phillips and Nathan Beaulieu scored in regulation for the Sea Dogs. Phillips also recorded an assist and Simon Despres set up two goals.
Philip-Michael Devos had two goals and Tye McGinn had a goal and an assist for the Olympiques. Christian Ouellet added two assists.
Jacob DeSerres stopped 35 shots for Saint John while Clermont finished with 60 saves at the other end.
Phillips left the game in the third period and didn't play another shift for the Sea Dogs. His status was not immediately known.
Game 5 is Friday night at Saint John, N.B.
The Sea Dogs are looking for their first President's Cup title, which would allow them to advance to their first Memorial Cup tournament later this month at Mississauga, Ont.
A year ago, Saint John lost the QMJHL final in six games to the Moncton Wildcats.
Gatineau's last appearance in the final, and last championship, was in 2008.
Problems with the refrigeration system overnight at Robert Guertin Arena made for poor ice and it only deteriorated more as the game wore on a warm spring night in western Quebec.
The Olympiques looked determined to get off to a strong start after a poor Game 3, when they were held to just seven shots through the first two periods on the way to being shut out 5-0.
DeSerres had to make a big save to deny Christian Ouellet on a 2-on-1 break with Devos just 90 seconds into the contest.
Ouellet then returned the favour by setting up Devos in the slot at the 6:29 mark and he slipped a shot through DeSerres's pads to give Gatineau the early lead.
It didn't last, however. After Huberdeau forced a good save out of Clermont on a solo rush at the other end, he converted a pass from Galiev at the side of the net to tie the score at 16:44.
Just 17 seconds later, Phillips came out of the corner and beat Clermont with a shot to the short side to make it 2-1.
The teams traded chances during an exciting second period where play was rarely interrupted by a whistle, but neither was able to find another goal.
Then it was the Olympiques' turn for quick-strike offence.
With Huberdeau in the penalty box for slashing, McGinn scored on a rebound just 68 seconds into the third period to bring Gatineau level.
McGinn then found Devos in flight down the left wing with a long lead pass and Devos picked the corner over DeSerres's shoulder to put the Olympiques on top.
Beaulieu tied it within five minutes, beating Clermont from the high slot on the power play and the game was headed for extra time, where in the opening minutes of the first overtime, Gatineau failed to take advantage of an 83-second 5-on-3 power play.
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