McLeod Factors into all 5 goals as Steelheads Oust 67’s

The Mississauga Steelheads and Michael McLeod eliminated the Ottawa 67’s today with a 5-1 win at TD Place in the Canadian capital. They will move on to round two of the OHL’s Eastern Conference playoffs having defeated Ottawa four games to two.

Michael McLeod, the Devils prospect, put together a great performance, netting five points – two goals and three assists – and factoring in on all five of the Steelheads’ goals.

Mississauga opened the scoring at 2:48 of the second period when Spencer Watson scored his third of the playoffs. Michael McLeod and his brother Ryan assisted on the goal to make it 1-0 Steelheads.

McLeod then scored his first of the game at 4:55 of the second, which would go on to be the game winner. He got assists from his brother and Watson.

He then scored at the 9:13 mark of the second with Watson this time getting the primary assist and Ryan McLeod gaining the secondary.

Jacob Cascagnette made it 4-0 at 12:40 of the second with Michael McLeod and Stephen Gibson on the assists. Watson would add his second of the game, closing the scoring for the Steelheads with assists from the McLeod brothers at 4:53 of the third period.

Carter Robertson would score the lone goal for the 67’s at the 9:51 mark of the third.

Michael McLeod was named the first star of the game, with Watson (second star) and Ryan McLeod (third star) rounding them out. Goaltender Jacob Ingham made 19 saves on 20 shots faced for Mississauga.

In other Devils-related Ontario Hockey League news, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds will face the Owen Sound Attack in the second round of the OHL Western Conference playoffs. Owen Sound defeated the Kitchener Rangers in round one, four games to one. Game one of that series will take place April 5 at the Essar Centre in Sault Ste. Marie.

Steelheads Take Game Four on Strength of Bastian Hat Trick

Devils prospect Nathan Bastian had a pretty good game four tonight at TD Place in Ottawa versus the Ottawa 67’s. The young forward netted a hat trick in a Mississauga 6-4 win to propel the Steelheads to a 3-1 series lead, one game from eliminating the 67’s.

The Devils other prospect on Mississauga, Michael McLeod assisted on the opening goal of the game, a Spencer Watson tally 26 seconds into the second period. Jacob Moverare had the primary assist on that goal.

Bastian scored his first of the game at the 4:06 mark of the second off an assist from Stefan LeBlanc to put the Steelheads up 2-0. The second period was a penalty filled one with 36 combined penalty minutes doled out plus a game misconduct to Kyle Auger of the 67’s. Michael McLeod had a roughing penalty in all of that.

Mississauga continued to pile it on when Vili Saarijarvi scored from Nicolas Hague and Ryan McLeod (Michael’s younger brother) on the power play at the ten minute mark to make it 3-0. Bastian would add his second of the game at 17:46 (with assists to Owen Tippett and Saarijarvi). That made it 4-1, as Ottawa had gotten a goal from Austen Keating midway through the second period.

Ottawa began a mini comeback when Noel Hoefenmayer scored 8:27 and Patrick White at 10:51 to make it 4-3.

It was then that the two Devils prospects came to the rescue for Mississauga. Michael McLeod scored on the power play at 11:47 of the third from Saarijarvi and Watson to make it 5-3. Bastian then completed his hat trick at 12:21 on a goal assisted by Moverare to make it 6-3.

The 67’s would get one more from Keating before the game was over, but the Steelheads came away with the win and are just one game from eliminating Ottawa in their best-of-seven series.

Game five will be played tomorrow at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga.