Sasha Chmelevski scored twice and Michael DiPietro made 37 saves to lead the Ottawa 67’s to a 7-2 victory over the Guelph Storm in Game 1 of the OHL finals on Thursday night.
Ottawa jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Guelph potted two goals to keep it close midway through the game.
READ MORE: Guelph Storm face tough test in OHL finals against Ottawa 67’s
It was put out of reach when the 67’s scored three goals in the third period during a five-minute power play after Storm defenceman Fedor Gordeev received a major penalty for boarding.
Isaac Ratcliffe and Nick Suzuki scored for the Storm and Anthony Popovich made 19 saves in the loss.
The 67’s find themselves on a 13-game winning streak after sweeping through their previous three series in the playoffs.
Ottawa’s Lucas Chiodo thought he had opened the scoring on a breakaway less than a minute into the first period but upon further review, he was ruled offside on the play.
WATCH: The Guelph Storm and Ottawa 67’s speak with reporters following Game 1 of the OHL Finals
Chmelevski’s shot past Popovich a few minutes later did count to make it 1-0.
Ty Felhaber buried another wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle late in the first for Ottawa.
Chiodo eventually found the back of the net early in the second period after a giveaway by Gordeev behind the Storm’s net to make it 3-0.
Guelph found some momentum with Ratcliffe firing the puck past DiPietro’s shoulder to make it 3-1 and then Suzuki buried a loose puck in front of the net on the power play to pull Guelph within one goal.
But that would be all the scoring for Guelph, who were down 4-2 heading into the third period, after a goal by the 67’s Marco Rossi.
The air was sucked out of the Storm’s bench when Gordeev received his major penalty for boarding midway through the final period.
On the ensuing power play, Chmelevski and Felhaber would get their second goals of the game and Noel Hoefenmayer scored his seventh goal of the playoffs.
LISTEN: Around The OHL: Chatting with vice-president of the OHL, Ted Baker
Larry Mellott will call Game 2 on Saturday at 2 p.m. live on 1460 CJOY.
The series heads to Guelph on Monday for Game 3 and Game 4 on Wednesday. Even though tickets are mostly sold out for those games, the Storm said some extras will be made available on Saturday night.
Comments