Erie Otters (18-37-3-5) at Owen Sound Attack (39-18-1-5)
When: Today and Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre – Owen Sound, Ontario
On the air: WFNN-AM/1330, www.ottershockey.com (live stream)
Upcoming schedule: Wednesday vs. London, 7 p.m.
What to expect: The Otters snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-4 comeback win in overtime against Windsor Saturday night at Erie Insurance Arena. … D Spencer Abraham scored the winning goal to complete his second two-goal game and three-point outing of his three-year OHL career. He was one point short of matching his single-game best of four points, set in his second career game with Brampton against Barrie Sept. 30, 2010. … F Dane Fox (16 goals, 17 assists, 33 points in 32 games) had two goals and an assist against the Spitfires in his first game back from a two-game, OHL-imposed suspension. … D Adam Pelech (7-30-37) rejoins the lineup tonight after serving a five-game suspension. … C Jake Evans (5-11-16) served his two-game suspension last weekend. But he hasn’t skated since injuring his knee during practice Feb. 25. … The Otters also are without rookie RW Hayden Hodgson (8-4-12), who’s serving a 10-game suspension that carries over to the first three games of the 2013-14 season. … RW Connor Brown (26-40-66) has skated on his own this week as he recovers from a concussion. Brown, who has been symptom-free the past few days, hopes to play this weekend. … Rookie D Justin Felker (neck) has been shut down for the rest of the season. … The Otters have all but clinched the No. 2 pick in the OHL Priority Selection April 6. Ottawa (16-42-0-5) is on pace to secure the No. 1 pick, while Peterborough (22-34-3-4) has the inside track to the third overall spot. … Otters C Connor McDavid (25-35-60) and Sarnia RW Nikolay Goldobin (27-33-60) are tied atop the league’s rookie scoring list. Both teams have five games left. McDavid, who has played five fewer games than Goldobin, leads his counterpart by two assists and trails him by two in goals. … Owen Sound is in a tight battle with Midwest Division rival Kitchener for third place in the Western Conference. The Attack has 84 points, one more than the Rangers, with five regular-season games left. … The Attack have the league’s best scoring defense (155 goals against) despite being the most penalized team (1,173 minutes). They are third on the penalty kill (84 percent). … C Daniel Catenacci ranks among the top 15 overall with 34 goals, 72 points and 111 penalty minutes. … LW Steven Janes (104), D Kurtis MacDermid (101) and LW Kyle Hope (100) also rank among the top 20 in penalty minutes. … G Jordan Binnington ranks among the leaders in wins (29), goals-against average (2.25), save percentage (.931) and shutouts (6). … The Attack won three of the first four meetings with the Otters.

- Victor Fernandes

Owen Sound turned a one-goal game into a rout in rapid-fire fashion.
The Attack scored four goals in a span of 2 minutes, 50 seconds early in the third period to pull away to a 6-1 win against the reeling Erie Otters in front of 2,702 at Erie Insurance Arena Saturday night. The Otters (4-10-1-2) head to Mississauga Sunday for a 2 p.m. game with a four-game losing streak. Connor Brown scored the lone goal for the Otters. Daniel Catenacci and Gemel Smith had a goal and two assists apiece for the Attack (12-2-0-2). The frontline duo combined for six goals and eight assists in the two-game sweep.
Owen Sound dominated from start to finish in the opening period, as they outshot the Otters 15-4 and took a 1-0 lead with 6:03 left on Kurtis MacDermid’s first OHL goal. The young defenseman’s seemingly innocent shot from the blue line slipped through a crowd and through Otters goaltender Oscar Dansk. Yet the Otters played a more spirited brand of hockey in the second, sparked by a power play that entered the game ranked fourth in the league at 26.9 percent. Brown scored off a rebound of Adam Pelech’s point shot – the captain’s seventh goal in the past five games and team-leading 13th of the season – to tie the score at 1 at the 7:18 mark.
But the Attack responded on the power play, with Cameron Brace firing a slap shot from the blue line off the left post and into the net – his 13th goal of the season – to snap the tie with 8:38 left in the period. The Otters finished the period with a 12-10 advantage in shots.
Then the Attack built a two-goal lead at 3-1 with the man advantage, as Smith was left open on the back post for a rebound goal 4:10 into the third period. His ninth goal of the season sparked the decisive stretch of four unanswered goals in less than three minutes.
Holden Cook bounced a shot from behind the net off Dansk’s pads and into the net for an unassisted goal and a 4-1 lead at the 5:55 mark of the period. Off the ensuing faceoff, Catenacci scored his 11th of the season 16 seconds later for a 5-1 Attack lead.
Then Gilbert Gabor turned into a 2-on-1 into a 6-1 Attack lead at the 7-minute mark. At that point, Owen Sound had more goals in the period (four) than the Otters had shots on goal (three). The Attack finished with a 40-22 advantage in shots.
Dansk stopped 34-of-40 shots in a losing effort, while rookie Connor McDavid’s 15-game point streak ended. He failed to record a point for the first time since the season opener Sept. 20 against Niagara. Brandon Hope stopped 21-of-22 shots to win for the Attack.
Meanwhile, 11 players recorded points for the Attack, which remained one point ahead of Barrie for the top spot in the league.

- Victor Fernandes