Facing elimination for the second straight round in the 2019 OHL playoffs, the Guelph Storm managed to force another Game 7 with a 5-1 win over the Saginaw Spirit on Sunday afternoon.
Nick Suzuki’s 12th goal of the playoffs in the second period of Game 6 was probably the most spectacular in his young hockey career.
READ MORE: Dmitri Samorukov’s hat trick helps Guelph Storm stave off elimination
The Montreal Canadiens prospect spun around Spirit forward Owen Tippett and roofed a backhand shot over the shoulder of 16-year-old netminder Tristan Lennox.
The stylish goal brought the almost 4,700 home fans to their feet and likely impressed Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin, who was at the Sleeman Centre to have a first-hand look at one of his top prospects.
Pavel Gogolev opened the scoring at 8:34 of the first period after he intercepted an awful pass attempt in front of the net by the Spirit’s D.J. Busdeker and put it past Lennox.
Fedor Gordeev’s shot from the blue line found its way in to make it 2-0 early in the second period.
LISTEN: Around The OHL — Chatting with vice-president of the OHL Ted Baker
With Suzuki’s stunner, the Storm had a 3-0 lead heading into the third period.
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A goal by Sean Durzi and Gogolev’s second of the game made it 5-0 less than two minutes into the final period.
Saginaw’s Jake Goldowski broke Anthony Popovich’s shutout with just a few minutes to go in the game.
Popovich still made 18 saves for the win, and Lennox turned aside 20 shots in a losing effort.
WATCH: Nick Suzuki’s Spin-O-Rama goal makes it 3-0 for the Guelph Storm in Sunday’s game
The Storm found themselves down 3-1 in the Western Conference championship but have the held the Spirit to just a single goal between games 5 and 6.
Guelph seems to succeed in mounting large comebacks after the team took the series against the London Knights in the previous round despite being down 3-0.
READ MORE: Saginaw Spirit top Guelph Storm to take 3-1 series lead
The team will have an opportunity to complete another comeback on Monday night in Saginaw in the deciding Game 7.
Larry Mellott will have the call live on 1460 CJOY at 7 p.m.
The winner of this series will earn the Wayne Gretzky Trophy as western conference champions and will meet the Ottawa 67’s in the OHL finals.
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