67’s collar Bulldogs, advance to Round 2 of OHL playoffs

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The Ottawa 67’s struck first and five more times to knock the Brantford Bulldogs out of the OHL playoffs in Game 6 Sunday night at TD Place.

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Key to their opening round 6-1 series clincher was their discipline – Ottawa gave the visitors just three power plays, or six fewer than the Bulldogs had in their Game 1 victory

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The No. 6 seed 67’s now face the No. 1 seed Oshawa Generals in the second round.

Ottawa won six of eight meetings with the Generals this season.

On Sunday, Will Gerrior and Bradley Horner led the 67’s with two goals each, while Jack Dever and Chris Barlas and had the other.

Brady Stonehouse chipped in with three assists.

Ottawa outshot Brantford, 38-32.

The 67’s took a 3-0 lead into the third, but Brantford cut into the deficit 1:06 into the period when Zakary Lavoie scored his fourth of the series on the power play with a shot that beat Collin MacKenzie high on the stick side.

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But Gerrior’s second of the night five minutes later took the wind out of the Bulldogs sails, and Horner scored his second into an empty net with 4:37 left.

Barlas applied the finishing touches with 41 seconds on the clock.

The 67’s scored the game’s opening goal for the first time in the series when Gerrior one-timed a cross-slot pass from Dever on the power play 4:47 into the night.

Dever increased the lead almost nine minutes later with help from Stonehouse, putting the home team in a comfortable position heading into period No. 2.

Horner put the 67’s up 3-0 with under five minutes left in the second period, taking a loose puck off the sideboards and beating goalie Matteo Drobac with a strong shot over his catching mitt.

ICE CHIPS: The 67’s were without defenceman and assistant captain Matthew Mayich, who was serving the first of a three game suspension he received for an incident Saturday in Brantford.

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