Martin St. Pierre had his first two goals as a Bulldogs and Dustin Tokarski stopped 24 of 25 shots fired his way.
Josh Leivo would open the scoring for Toronto as a blocked Spencer Abbott shot found it’s way onto Leivo’s stick who deposited it into the gaping cage.
Hamilton was clearly the better team for the majority of the first but couldn’t find a goal registering 17 shots on goal in the period.
The Bulldogs dominated the first half of the second period spending most of it in the Marlies’ zone but Drew MacIntyre stopped everything to keep them off the scoresheet.
The second half of the period was more even but neither goalie could be solved with each side registering 10 shots.
It would take until the halfway mark of the third period for something to happen as the third period was punctuated by back and forth play but not many real scoring chances.
With Stuart Percy off for tripping Magnus Nygren fired a shot from the point that was stopped but Bulldogs captain St. Pierre was there to slam home his first as a Bulldog and tie the game.
Once again overtime was required for the Bulldogs as the team headed to the extra stanza for the sixth time this season. St. Pierre played the hero with a near identical goal on a powerplay in overtime slamming home a rebound to give Hamilton yet another overtime victory.
For Hamilton it was a huge win, giving them sole possession of the North Division lead and their first points against bitter Ontario rivals, Toronto.
Coach Lefebvre said first place is nice but the next month is key for the Dogs. “We know that in November we have a lot of games at home, we have to take advantage of that,” said Lefebvre. “We can set ourselves up for some good things here.”
St. Pierre was happy but would prefer to play with the lead. “It’s unfortunate that we still have to play trailing behind,” said St. Pierre. “We’re still not satisfied even though we got the win and in overtime we still gave them a point.”
Josh Leivo was named third star of the game, Drew MacIntyre second star and Martin St. Pierre first star.
Attendance was the best it’s been so far this season as a combination of a Friday night game and the Marlies as the opponent led to 5,310 people showing up to the rink.
Hamilton next plays Saturday at home to Abbotsford before travelling to Rochester on Wednesday.
More from Eyes On The Prize:
- Canadiens vs Wild: Top Six Minutes – Out-Coached Edition
- Who are Alexei Emelin’s true salary comparables?
- Subban a “Long Shot” for Team Canada? – Friday Habs Links
- How big of a gamble is Alexei Emelin’s new deal?
- The EOTP Montreal meetup is set!
- Improving the NHL’s “Real Time Stats”/
