Box Score
MONTREAL -- Senior goaltender Kevin Bailie of Belleville, Ont., committed a larcenous 40 saves and sophomore Henry Thompson of Oshawa, Ont., scored the game-winner unassisted at 16:24 of the final period as No.7-ranked Queen's surprised third-ranked McGill 2-1 in OUA men's hockey playoff action at McConnell Arena, Wednesday.

The victory halted McGill's win streak at seven and was the Gaels third straight over their long-time rivals after snapping a 31-game losing streak to the Redmen earlier this season. More importantly, Queen's now leads the OUA East best-of-three final 1-0 and with a win in Game 2 on Friday night at the Kingston Memorial Centre, would advance to the Queen's Cup final for the first time since 1981.

Should the Redmen force a deciding game, it is scheduled for McConnell Arena on Sunday at 7 p.m.

McGill, which tumbled to 6-2 lifetime in post-season play against Queen's, had the upper hand for most of the soiree, outshooting the Gaels 41-19, including a lopsided 21-4 margin in the third period. McGill had the first 19 shots of the final period before Queen's got their first, with the game-winning tally by Thompson. But Bailie stood tall, withstanding a blitzkrieg from McGill's arsenal, which appeared to be on a perpetual power-play in the final stanza.

It took the Gaels just 24 seconds after opening puck drop to score the the first goal as McGill was  caught pinching on the play and Slater Doggett of Oakville, Ont., took advantage for his first goal of the playoffs after tallying 13 in the regular season. Doggett broke in on a two-on-one with Eric Ming of Williamstown, Ont., who fed Doggett for an easy tap-in past McGill rookie goalie Philip-Louis Guindon on their first shot of the game. Guindon, who finished with 17 saves, suffered his first loss in more than a month, since a setback at Western on Jan. 28.

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Just 51 seconds into the second period, McGill senior Jan Kaminsky fed a pass from behind the net to the right of Bailie that went to rookie Alexandre Sills of Amos, Que., who put a shot past the goalie's blocker to knot the game at 1-1, setting the stage for the late-game heroics. Sills is the 11th different McGill player to find the back of the net in five post-season games.

Queen's also won the previous meeting with the Redmen in similar fashion, getting a goal with 90 seconds remaining to skate away with an identical  2-1 victory at the McGill Winter Carnival game on January 13.

It appeared that McGill would wear the Gaels down and score in the dying minutes but a slashing penalty to Jerome Verrier at 18:27 all but snuffed out McGill's last chance at glory. The Redmen took four penalties in the game, while Queen's only had one. Neither team was able to connect on the power-play.

REDMEN RAP: McGill now owns a 78-22 home-ice record in 100 regular season and playoff games dating back to their magical national championship campaign in 2011-12.... The McGill campus is a ghost town this week as the students are on Study Break... The Redmen have now killed off eight consecutive power-play scenarios and 14 of 17 in their five playoff games, an 82.4 per cent success rate... The post-season power-play has connected on only 2-of-18 opportunities (11.1)...McGill has a 125-53-2 lifetime record against the Gaels, including a 54-33-2 mark in Kingston...

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OUA EAST FINAL (GAME 1)
Queen's 2 at McGill 1
(Wednesday, March 1, 2017 - McConnell Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
Queen's 1-0-1 -- 2
McGill 0-1-0 -- 1

1st Period-
1, Queen's, Slater Doggett 1 (Ming), 0:24.

Penalties-Tardif-Richard Mcg (hooking), 5:20.

2nd Period-
2, McGill, Alexandre Sills 1 (Kaminsky), 0:51.

Penalties-Edwards Qns (high sticking), 10:04; McG BENCH served by Lalonde (too many men), 12:27; Verrier Mcg (cross checking), 18:16.

3rd Period-
3, Queen's, Henry Thompson 1 (unassisted), 16:24.

Penalties-Verrier Mcg (slashing), 18:27.

Shots on Goal-
Queen's 3-12-4 -- 19.
McGill 9-11-21 -- 41.

Power Play Opportunities-
Queen's 0 / 4;
McGill 0 / 1.

Goalies-
Queen's, Kevin Bailie (W, 5-2, 41 shots-40 saves; 60:00).
McGill, Louis-Philip Guindon (L, 2-1, 19 shots-17 saves; 58:54).

Attendance: 340
Start: 7:01 PM
End: 9:04 PM
Length: 2:03

Referees-Jonathan Alarie, Alexandre Cote.
Linesmen-Maxime Mongeon, Nicolas Piche.

MOLSON CUP THREE STARS
1. QNS - 30 Kevin Bailie
2. MCG - 19 Mathieu Pompei
3. QNS - 14 Henry Thompson