Cole Lewis scored the winner 1:29 into overtime as the Stratford Warriors defeated the Brantford Bandits 3-2 at William Allman Memorial Arena on Sunday.
The Warriors took a 2-1 lead in the GOJHL midwestern conference opening round playoff series.
Charlie Pys opened the scoring for the Bandits at the 4:59 mark of the first period. Brayden Stumpf tied it up for Stratford 58 seconds later on the power play. Just 25 seconds after that, Liam Gorman added another for the Warriors for a 2-1 lead.
Blake Clayton tied the game for the Bandits in the second period.
Brantford were 0-6 on the power play.
Matthew Perdue stopped 22 shots for the Warriors. Lennart Neisse had 35 saves for the Bandits.
On Saturday night in Brantford, the Bandits jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead behind two goals from Ezra Fischer and a single marker from Pys, and then held on for a 6-3 win at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Complex.
Michael Denney got one back for the Warriors to cut the margin to 3-1 after 20 minutes. Gorman scored again for Stratford in the second period. Evan Palubeski, shorthanded, and Will Bray replied for Brantford in the second period.
Evan Hjelhot scored for the Warriors in the final frame. Juan Agromayor sealed the win with another shorthanded goal for the Bandits, also an empty netter.
Perdue and Carter McDougall combined for 15 saves. Neisse stopped 30 pucks for the Bandits.
Stratford got the series started with en emphatic 6-0 win at the William Allman Memorial Arena on Friday night.
Carson Harmer and Denney scored power play goals in the first and second periods, respectively, for a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes. Jacob Wiseman, also with the man advantage, Rhyse Brown, Denney with his second of the game, and Camden Daigle added third period markers for the Warriors.
Stumpf had three assists for the Warriors.
Perdue stopped all 24 shots that came his way in net for the Warriors. Neisse and Dylan Dewachter combined for 31 saves for the Bandits.
Game four is in Brantford on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
