The Sudbury Wolves were rallied behind their captain again on Saturday night as they beat the Barrie Colts 4-3 in thrilling double overtime.
Defenceman Zach McCullough played the hero, scoring on the power play at 13:15 of the second overtime period.
Sudbury held a 3-1 advantage with less than three minutes to play in the game, but couldn't hold on.
Barrie pulled goaltender Andrew Perugini and winger Vladimir Nikiforov scored at 17:05 to make it 3-2.
Then with 33.8 seconds left in the third period, Barrie's Hunter Tremblay scored off the draw to tie the game.
You could almost hear a pin drop in the Sudbury Arena after Tremblay tied the game, however, the Wolves managed to regroup and carried much of the play during both overtime periods.
The Wolves limped off into the dressing room after the collapse, but they didn't fold as captain Marc Staal took control of the tumultuous situation.
"Marc stepped up in the room and said boys we know how to win," said centre Nick Foligno. "(His leadership) is unbelievable…he's been playing so great for us.
"When you see your captain doing that, you can't help but want to pick up your socks and try to help him out. With what he has done with his career, two WJC gold medals, you can't help but notice this guy is a winner and he wants to win. We just kind of follow his lead."
Staal provided plenty of fireworks, scoring two goals, including an end-to-end rush goal, which put the Wolves up 3-1 early in the third period, and dishing out some hard hits.
He was also front and centre with several altercations with Colts' grinder, and Sudbury boy, Cory McGillis.
Sudbury goaltender Sebastain Dahm was rock solid, making 54 saves overall. He was tested constantly by the Barrie snipers and met the challenge.
Foligno, with his seventh of the playoffs, also scored for Sudbury. Foligno failed to convert on a penalty shot in the first period.
Michael Lombardi accounted for the Colts other goal and Perugini finished with 43 saves.
Sudbury found out the true meaning of playing a full 60 minutes after blowing the late 3-1 lead.
"We worked really hard to get the lead, but we weren't able to keep it and they kept coming at us and tied the game up late," said Wolves head coach and GM Mike Foligno.
"Sebastian Dahm played a great game. The maturity level of this team is showing its strength. Guys like Marc Staal...just being a real force out there again. Everyone contributed hard. You can't beat a team like Barrie without having everyone on board."
Sudbury is ready for a fierce storm tonight in Barrie as the Colts attempt to get back into the series.
"These are two good teams going at it," said the coach. "We know they will come at us with everything, but we're ready. We really believe we can do the job and we really believe in each other."
McCullough was flying high after ending the longest playoff game in Sudbury history.
"I stepped into the middle of the ice and (Kevin) Baker gave (the puck) to me and I just shot the puck on net," said McCullough. "It feels pretty good. I definitely never scored a big goal like that...it feels cool."
The Colts are down, but not out.
"We did a good job of working hard...and battling back," said Barrie captain Bryan Little. "Both teams fought hard and it was a good playoff game, but we can't dwell on this too much.
"It's only two games and plenty of teams have come back from (being) down two games. The next game we're going to try and win in regulation...we don't like overtime too much.
"We have to get the next win, it's really important. We just have to try and stay out of the box...and our power play has to start scoring."
Fans can see action shots from Saturday's game in our Sudbury Wolves photo gallery.
Game time for game three tonight in Barrie is 7:30 pm.
Game four goes Wednesday night in Sudbury. Game time is 7:30 pm.
