The Hamilton Bulldogs have won their first OHL playoff series in franchise history.
Goalie Kaden Fulcher stopped 24 shots, including a penalty shot in the second period, as Hamilton beat Ottawa 4-1 Friday night at FirstOntario Centre to eliminate the 67’s in five games.
“That series win just feels unbelievable.”
Ryan Moore had three assists for the Bulldogs and Matthew Strome, Nicholas Caamano, Brandon Saigeon and Isaac Nurse all scored.
Hamilton, the top seed in the East, became the first team in the conference to advance to the 2nd round and will now wait to see which opponent they will face.
Strome opened the scoring 4:48 into the first period when he deflected teammate Ryan Moore’s shot from the high slot past Ottawa netminder Olivier Tremblay, delighting the 4,750 fans who had settled into their seats at FirstOntario Centre.
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“They were going to come out flying, their backs were against the wall and we just had to weather the storm and I think we did that well,” said Strome. “That series win just feels unbelievable.”
Nicholas Caamano finished off a pretty passing play with Will Bitten and Moore on the power-play to give the Dogs a two goal lead with under eight minutes remaining in the opening frame.
Ottawa’s Tye Felhaber trimmed Hamilton’s lead at 10:55 of the second period when he buried a centering pass from Sasha Chmelevski past Fulcher.
“Pretty special night. Obviously we know that there is more work ahead of us,” said Fulcher. “We’re an excited group and I think that is going to take us far in the playoffs.”
But the visitors’ momentum was stymied less than two minutes later when Hamilton’s power-play struck again.
Brandon Saigeon got his stick on Tim Gleason’s point shot and tipped it past Tremblay to restore the Bulldogs’ two goal advantage.
“The last thing we wanted to do was get back on that bus.”
Fulcher closed the door the rest of the way, stopping Ottawa’s Mitchell Hoelscher on a penalty shot with 4:35 to play in the middle stanza, and made two 10-bell saves in the third period to preserve the victory.
After the game, Bulldogs head coach John Gruden admitted the Game 5 victory was “a relief for all of us,” adding “I think the last thing we wanted to do was get back on that bus” for a return trip to Ottawa.
Isaac Nurse capped off Hamilton’s scoring with an empty net goal with 2:06 left in regulation.
The last time the Hamilton Bulldogs had won a playoff series was in 2010-2011 when the AHL team went to the Eastern Conference Final.
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