Bulldogs playoff picture still muddy
Brantford loses 4-3 to Kingston in overtime Saturday; one game remaining in regular season
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The playoff picture isn’t much clearer for the Brantford Bulldogs with one game remaining in the OHL’s regular season.
Facing the Kingston Frontenacs on the road on Saturday, the Bulldogs were beaten 4-3 in overtime.
The single point earned by Brantford (36-20-9-2) now gives the Bulldogs 83 points, tying them with the Sudbury Wolves (38-22-4-3) for fourth in the Eastern Conference. However, should the two teams end the season tied, Sudbury would get fourth and Brantford would get fifth due to the fact that the Wolves have more regulation and overtime wins (37) than the Bulldogs (35).
With one game remaining in the regular season, the Bulldogs can finish anywhere from third to fifth in the conference. Sudbury also has one game remaining and its result is key to where Brantford will wind up.
Brantford faces the sixth-place Ottawa 67’s (36-23-6-2) on the road at 2 p.m. on Sunday to finish things off while Sudbury plays the Eastern Conference champion Oshawa Generals (39-19-7-2) at 6 p.m.
There are multiple playoff scenarios for the Bulldogs.
A Bulldogs win and Sudbury loss would move Brantford to third in the Eastern Conference and result in a first-round matchup against the 67’s. If Brantford loses in overtime or a shootout and Sudbury loses, the Bulldogs would finish fourth and face the Wolves in the first round of the playoffs, with home ice.
Should Brantford and Sudbury both lose, the Bulldogs would remain in fifth and face the fourth-place Wolves in the first round, without home ice.
A Sudbury win and Brantford loss would keep Brantford in fifth place, move Sudbury into third place and drop Mississauga to fourth, setting up a Bulldogs-Steelheads showdown with Mississauga owning home ice.
If both Brantford and Sudbury win, the Bulldogs would finish fourth and face Mississauga, with Brantford owning home ice.
Against Kingston on Saturday, Brantford’s Ben Bujold opened the scoring before Ottawa scored twice to take a 2-1 lead. After Calvin Crombie and Florian Xhekaj scored in the third period to out the visitors ahead 3-2, the Frontenacs scored just before the midway point of the third to tie things up and then won it with a power-play goal at 1:57 of the overtime session.
Noah Nelson, Owen Protz, Lawson Sherk, Adrian Rebelo, Luca Testa and Patrick Thomas got assists for the Bulldogs. Matteo Drobac made 32 saves in goal.
Roman Schmidt scored two goals for Kingston with one each to Tyler Hopkins and Gage Heyes. J.J. Salajko made 28 saves to earn the win.
The OHL regular season concludes for all teams on Sunday, with playoffs to begin next week.
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