At some point, a playoff series will have that knee-jellying 90-degree turn that defines a team’s season, one way or another.
Nine players on the Erie Otters — eight Erie stalwarts including Dylan Strome (Arizona) while second-line centre Anthony Cirelli (Tampa Bay) was a rookie with the Oshawa Generals at that time — played in the OHL final two seasons ago. The record would show it was a five-game series. Erie never recovered from the climax to Game 4. In overtime, a puck-over-the-glass delay-of-game penalty put Oshawa on the power play, which led to Cole Cassels scoring the game-winner for a 3-1 series lead.
Erie has had its stresses just getting to the final against the Mississauga Steelheads, going seven games against London in Round 2 and six against Owen Sound in the Western Conference final. In a final between two deep offensive teams, the Otters do bring in a bigger been-there element.
“Experience obviously plays a factor,” Strome said. “I think we have eight or nine guys still here who were on the team that went to the finals. It’s a fun time. Last time it was a closer series than the result indicated.”
Led by New Jersey Devils first-rounder Michael McLeod, Mississauga is an up-tempo team which has a shot to win some respect for the OHL’s oft-maligned Eastern Conference. As a group, the Steelheads faced their gumption trap when they went one-for-November, riding out the low of a nine-game losing skid.
“As coaches, we were the ones who were to blame,” Steelheads coach James Richmond recalled on Wednesday. “It wasn’t so much the players – they haven’t changed that much apart from (left wing Trent) Fox and (left wing Jacob) Cascagnette (both added via trades). We were rushing through, we weren’t taking the time explaining to the players how we wanted them to play. That started to change around, the players started to understand it a little more. The players bonded and they’ve been better ever since.”
Mississauga will not be a pushover. After a four-game sweep against the Peterborough Petes in their conference final, McLeod and the Steelheads will have to adjust to playing a more offensively dynamic opponent.
“We had a lot more time with the puck (against Peterborough) than I think we’ll have in this series,” McLeod said. “It’s going to be a lot faster and everyone is going to need to make plays more quickly.”
Erie hosts Game 1 on Thursday. With the Otters stacking up as the favourite, here are seven matchups that could have an influence on the outcome:
McLeod(s) vs. Strome
The captains and No. 1 centres grew up in the same Mississauga neighbourhood, going toe-to-toe in street hockey. What makes junior hockey more endearing than its big-league counterpart is the extent to which a franchise player can seemingly elevate an entire group. The Otters’ season got serious once the Arizona Coyotes opted to give Strome more time in junior.
“His playmaking ability and his shot on the half-wall on the power play, we’ve got to close that off,” McLeod said of Strome. “I like how competitive he is and he always wants to win.”
The biggest change with McLeod from his second season to his third has been his ability to use his teammates, particularly his regular wingers, 17-year-old brother Ryan and overager Spencer Watson (Los Angeles).
“He is so dangerous with the puck,” Strome said of Mike McLeod. “The way our team has played without the puck and played defensively, it’s going to be important to keep that going. Stopping him off the rush will be so important.”
Jacob Moverare and Vili Saarijärvi vs. Erie’s forechecking
Mississauga’s top four is quick as a hiccup thanks to the likes of Moverare (Los Angeles), Saarijärvi (Detroit), draft-eligible Nicolas Hague and overager Stefan LeBlanc. Against Peterborough, 5-on-5 situations sometimes resembled a power play, and the distinction between defence and forward seemed mostly nominal. Erie will have to slow them down, or at least keep the Steelheads’ mobile defencemen otherwise occupied.
“We had a home-and-home with them fairly late in the regular season (Feb. 20-21) and both games were close,” Strome recalled. “They played really aggressive and really well. Both (Moverare and Saarijärvi) are great players, both have signed NHL contracts and they’re playing really well. It’s going to come down to us making them work in their own zone so maybe they don’t have as much energy to get up ice and jump in the play. The more we can work them, the better for us. They’re going to be playing a lot.”
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Darren Raddysh vs. the Steelheads forwards
The elder Raddysh completed an unprecedented awards double on Wednesday, becoming the first player to receive both the OHL’s defenceman of the year award and its best overage player honour. After facing the London Knights and Owen Sound Attack in the second and third round, Raddysh, partner T.J. Fergus and the Otters back end are accustomed to dealing with dangerous opponents.
So-called second line vs. so-called second line
Such is the depth of each squad that their purest goal scorers, by the numbers, is a right-shooting left wing on the second line, since that’s where Erie’s Alex DeBrincat (Chicago) and Mississauga’s Owen Tippett finished the last round.
DeBrincat, who has a smidgen more career regular-season goals than assists (167-165) has turned setup guy in these playoffs with nine goals and 22 helpers. Keeping DeBrincat from finding the passing lanes for his teammates is essential for Mississauga.
Owen Tippett, a.k.a. Ginger Snipes, has enjoyed excellent chemistry on his line, which often includes the 19-year-old Fox. Tippett might have to variously deal with having either of Erie’s top two right wings, Warren Foegele (Carolina) and Taylor Raddysh (Tampa Bay), flanking him on the ice.
The Steelheads vs. Erie’s crowd noise
Mississauga is 8-0 on the road in the playoffs. Winning the series would involve winning at least once at Erie Insurance Arena, where the Otters are 37-6 overall this season.
Foegele vs. Watson
Not a head-to-head showdown per se, but the overage forwards who were previously teammates with the Kingston Frontenacs are each an X-factor. Watson has a league-most 14 goals in 15 playoff games, to go with the 28 in 41 he put up during an surgery-truncated regular season.
“With Watty, when you watch film you think he’s out of the play and suddenly Mikey (McLeod) or Ryan (McLeod) finds him,” Richmond said. “He does some special things when the puck is on his stick. I think it’ll be a dream come true for him to go out as a champion as a 20-year-old.”
Foegele, the Game 7 overtime goal scorer, has given Erie an effective kind of toughness with his two-way play.
“We’ve had a good penalty kill throughout the year and a lot of that had to do with Warren and Anthony (Cirelli),” Otters coach Kris Knoblauch said.
Mancina vs. Timpano
The commonalities with the starting goalies is that both were traded before the season and both have split duties in the playoffs.
Matt Mancina, Mississauga’s overage netminder, has been solid during the past two series, keeping focused even while having bouts of inactivity due to playing for a dominant puck-possession team. Erie’s Troy Timpano finished the conference final with a flourish, handling 81-of-88 shots from a skilled Owen Sound team across the series’ last three games. Neither can afford a weak moment.
