OHL Roundup: IceDogs beat Otters to end season-high winless streak

Brett Ritchie had a goal and three assists on Friday as the Niagara IceDogs halted their season-high winless streak by defeating the host Erie Otters 5-1 in Ontario Hockey League play.

The IceDogs had gone eight games without a victory as their last one came back on Jan. 10th against the Owen Sound Attack. During their streak they were outscored 34-17 and fell two places in the Eastern Conference standings to sixth.

Ryan Strome scored twice for Niagara (24-23-4) while Steven Shipley had a goal and an assist.

Strome has now scored in three straight games and his 27 goals and 70 points in 39 contests is good for fourth in OHL scoring. The 19-year-old centre is eight points behind Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds' forward Nick Cousins for the league lead, despite playing in 11 less games.

Brendan Perlini also scored for the IceDogs and Jesse Graham chipped in with two assists.

Jake Evans scored the lone goal for Erie (15-27-8), which is winless in five games and have seven total goals in those defeats.

Backup goaltender Brent Moran stopped 26 shots for his first win since Nov. 30th. Devin Williams turned away 20-of-25 shots in a losing cause.

Both clubs went 0 for 2 on the power play.

Elsewhere in the OHL, it was: Barrie 3, Kingston 2 (SO); Sault Ste. Marie 6, Plymouth 5; Peterborough 4, Saginaw 2; Windsor 3, Guelph 1; Owen Sound 2, Kitchener 1; London 1, Brampton 0 (SO); Oshawa 2, Mississauga 0 and Ottawa 4, Sarnia 3.

At Erie, Pa., the IceDogs jumped out to an early lead and found themselves up 3-0 after 20 minutes of play.

Strome opened the scoring at 6:51 of the first period and Ritchie and Perlini added goals 39 seconds apart before the period was through.

Evans put Erie on the board 2:06 into the second period, however Shipley restored his club's three-goal lead at 7:11.

Strome added his second goal of the game at 11:59 of the third period.

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Colts 3 Frontenacs 2 (SO)

At Kingston, Ont., Anthony Camara scored once in regulation and then the shootout winner and Alex Fotinos stopped 38-of-40 shots as Barrie (33-15-2) handed the Frontenacs (20-24-5) their 10th loss in a row.

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Greyhounds 6 Whalers 5

At Plymouth, Mich., Ryan Sproul had two goals and three assists and Andrew Fritsch added two goals as Sault Ste. Marie (27-19-4) edged the Whalers (25-15-9), who lost in regulation for the first time in five outings.

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Petes 4 Spirit 2

At Saginaw, Mich., Andrew D'Agostini stopped 31 shots and Jonatan Tanus' goal at 5:44 of the second period stood up as the winner as Peterborough (16-27-7) doubled up the Spirit (24-21-5).

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Spitfires 3 Storm 1

At Guelph, Ont., Jordan DeKort turned aside 46-of-47 shots and Kerby Rychel scored twice, including the winner, as Windsor (21-22-7) beat the Storm (28-16-5) to move within four points of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

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Attack 2 Rangers 1

At Kitchener, Ont., Daniel Catennaci's power-play goal with 1:51 remaining in the third period proved to be the difference and Jordan Binnington stopped 36-of-37 shots as Owen Sound (32-14-4) slipped past the Rangers (29-15-6), who had their four-game win streak snapped.

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Knights 1 Battalion 0 (SO)

At London, Ont., Anthony Stolarz stopped 34 shots for his first OHL shutout and Seth Griffith, Matt Rupert and Max Domi all scored in the shootout as the Knights (38-9-3) edged Brampton (23-18-9).

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Generals 2 Steelheads 0

At Mississauga, Ont., Scott Sabourin scored a pair of early goals and Danel Altshuller stopped all 20 shots he faced as Oshawa (28-18-4) blanked the Steelheads (22-23-4), who have dropped back-to-back contests.

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67's 4 Sting 3

At Ottawa, Mike Vlajkov scored twice, including the game winner with 1:17 left in regulation, and Jacob Blair stopped 28-of-31 shots as the 67's (14-33-4) downed Sarnia (27-19-3).