The Hamilton Bulldogs are in a hole in their opening round Ontario Hockey League playoff series after dropping the first two games on the road in their best of seven with the 67’s.
Graeme Clarke had a hat-trick to lead Ottawa to a 5-2 win over Hamilton on Sunday, giving the 67’s a 2-0 series lead.
Mitchell Hoelscher and Jack Quinn also scored for top-seeded Ottawa, who opened the series with a 9-3 rout of the Dogs on Friday.
Matthew Strome made it a one-goal game midway through the second period scoring his second goal of the post-season on the power-play, however, Ottawa’s Clarke and Quinn netted goals in a span of 29 seconds to put the game out of reach.
Clarke completed the hat-trick with a power-play tally with 15 seconds left in the game.
Isaac Nurse also scored for the defending OHL champion Bulldogs, who host Game 3 of the best-of-seven series on Tuesday.