Bulldogs have momentum
Hamilton hopes big Game 4 comeback carries over into Game 5
By Garry McKay
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It was a remarkable comeback to be sure.
Down 3-0 to the Grand Rapids Griffins midway through the third period Wednesday night, the Hamilton Bulldogs rallied to tie the game and then won it 4-3 in overtime to deadlock their best-of-seven series at 2-2.
What tends to be overlooked in an achievement like that is the Bulldogs had dug themselves that big a hole in the first place and 999 times out of a thousand would be unlikely to get themselves out of it.
It wasn’t lost on Dogs coach Ron Wilson, however.
While his players were given a day off from practice yesterday, Wilson was looking at film and didn’t particularly like a lot of what he saw.
“We weren’t very good in the second period at all,” he said. “We gave them way too many scoring chances and we have to be better. Defensively, we have to be better. We were way too loose.”
Wilson will get the message across to his players they can’t put themselves in that position again.
“We stole that game,” he said. “Playoffs are about momentum. They had it and we took it away from them. It’s ours now and we’ve got to run with it.”
Ben Maxwell, who scored two power-play goals in a minute and 42 seconds in the third to get Hamilton back to even, says the Dogs have to seize the opportunity.
“We have to hold that momentum that we had for the last 15 minutes and just come out hard the next game,” he said.
“We can enjoy what we did for a little while but in the playoffs, obviously the most important game is the next one.”
The Montreal Canadiens have sent the Bulldogs some additional help.
Defenceman Yannick Weber and left-winger Greg Stewart were returned to the Dogs after the Habs were eliminated in the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Boston Bruins.
Both were scheduled to arrive here last night and be in the lineup tonight.
“Getting Yannick back should help our power play and Stewy is the type of player you need in the playoffs. He’s a big bull out there running people over,” said Wilson “They’ll both be welcome additions for sure.”