OHL playoffs continue with five Friday games

After action opened with a trio of games on Friday night, the Ontario Hockey League playoffs continued with five games on the schedule.

In Kingston, Dawson Carty made 19 saves as the Hamilton Bulldogs blanked the Kingston Frontenacs 2-0 to take an early 1-0 series lead. Will Bitten had both goals for the Bulldogs. Matt Luff assisted on both goals for the fifth-seeded Bulldogs. Kingston goaltender Jeremy Helvig made 27 saves.

In Mississauga, Trent Fox had two goals and an assist as the second-seeded Mississauga Steelheads opened the playoffs with a 6-2 win over the Ottawa 67’s. Owen Tippett had a goal and three assists for Mississauga. Nathan Bastien chipped in with a goal and two assists.
Michael McLeod and Vili Saarijarvi chipped in with a goal and an assist for the Steelheads. Sasha Chmelevski and Zack Dorval scored for Ottawa.

In London, Jeremiah Addison scored at 15:06 of overtime to give the Windsor Spitfires a 4-3 victory over the London Knights in the opening game of the Western Conference’s 4-5 matchup. Addison and Aaron Luchuk had two goals each for Windsor. Gabriel Vilardi assisted on a pair of goals for the Spitfires. Windsor goaltender Michael DiPietro made 35 saves. London goaltender Tyler Parsons made 43 saves. Victor Mete had a goal and an assist for London. Mitchell Stephens and Olli Juolevi also scored for London.

In Owen Sound, Nick Suzuki, Petrus Palmu, Ethan Szypula and Santino Centorame had a goal and two assists each as the Owen Sound Attack rolled to a 9-1 series-opening win over the Kitchener Rangers. Maksim Sushko and Kevin Hancock added a goal and an assist each for Owen Sound. Sean Durzi assisted on three Attack goals. Jonah Gadjovich, Matt Schmalz and Cordell James also scored for Owen Sound. Cole Carter had the lone goal for Kitchener.

In Oshawa, the Sudbury Wolves, the Eastern Conference’s sixth seed, skated to a 5-2 game one victory over the Oshawa Generals. Sudbury netminder Jake McGrath made 33 saves. Dmitry Sokolov had a goal and an assist for Sudbury. Drake Pilon, MacAuley Carson, Michael Pezzetta and Ala Lyszczarczyk also scored for the Wolves. Kenny Huether and Serron Noel scored for the Generals. Jack Studnicka and Joe Manchurek each assisted on both Oshawa goals.

The OHL playoffs continue on Saturday night with four games, including the Soo Greyhounds hosting the Flint Firebirds in game two of their Western Conference first round series.

The Greyhounds won the series opener by a 5-2 score on Thursday night at the Essar Centre.

Matthew Villalta is expected to get the start in goal for the Soo Greyhounds.

Puck drop at the Essar Centre on Saturday is set for 7:07 p.m.

Other games on Saturday night include the Sarnia Sting hosting the Erie Otters, the Peterborough Petes hosting the Niagara IceDogs and the Owen Sound Attack hosting the Kitchener Rangers.

In other OHL news on Friday, a pair of players signed with their respective NHL teams. London Knights forward Janne Kuokkanen inked an entry-level deal with the Carolina Hurricanes while Windsor Spitfires forward Jeremiah Addison signed an entry-level deal with the Montreal Canadiens.

In his first season with the London Knights, Kuokkanen scored 26 goals and 62 points in 60 regular season games. The Finnish forward was Carolina’s second round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

Addison, an overage forward with Windsor, scored 24 goals and 43 points in 51 games with the Spitfires. The 20-year-old was selected in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the Canadiens.