Wednesday, April 29, 2015

4/28 Recap: Baptiste blows up

Nicholas Baptiste exploded for four goals Tuesday as Erie defeated Sault Ste. Marie 7-5 in Game 4 of the OHL Western Conference Final.

Sabres prospect Jean Dupuy scored the game's first goal just 38 seconds after the opening face-off with Justin Bailey getting one of the assists, but Baptiste quickly answered with his sixth of the playoffs 1:57 later to open the floodgates.

Dupuy's goal came as he hit the net front and kicked a rebound to his backhand for a nice finish. Baptiste struck from the left wing after taking a keen cross-ice feed right on the tape from Connor McDavid ('15).

Baptiste potted his second power-play tally of the night at 11:24 of the second period to again knot the score at 3-3. Dylan Strome ('15) and McDavid picked up helpers on the play.

The teams traded goals to start the third period, and Erie eventually eventually got their first lead of the night with an Alex Debrincat ('16) marker in the 53rd minute. Baptiste would complete the hat trick less than a minute later with the eventual game-winning goal.

Sergey Tolchinsky (CAR) got one back for the Soo with 1:56 to play, but Baptiste would keep the engine firing with an empty-netter with 38 seconds left to earn his career-high fourth goal of the game.

Erie leads the series 3-1 with the teams heading back to Sault Ste. Marie for Game 5 on Thursday.