MONTREAL -- Samuel Tremblay of Ste. Basile le Grande, Que., potted the game-winner on a power-play late in the second period and fourth-place McGill held on for a hard-fought 2-1 victory over fifth-seeded Concordia in the OUA East men's hockey quarter-final series opener, Thursday, at McConnell Arena.

The result snapped Concordia's four-game win streak at the end of the regular season and halted McGill's two-game losing skid. So much for the importance of momentum!

McGill, which improved to 108-107-14 lifetime against the Stingers, including a 19-12 mark in post-season play, is now in position to sweep the best-of-three affair with a victory on Saturday in Game 2 at Concordia's Ed Meagher Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:30 p.m.

Should a rubber match be required, it would be back at McConnell on Sunday (Feb. 16) at 7 p.m.

Sophomore Jordan-Ty Fournier of Dorval, Que., tapped in a rebound to put McGill ahead 1-0 on a power-play at 19:18 of the first period. It was his fourth career playoff goal in six contests.

McGill  made it a two-goal cushion when Tremblay, a science senior, roofed a laser beam on the short side with his PP marker at 7:57 of the second stanza. He now has nine career post-season markers in 22 games.

Eight minutes later, Concordia tallied the game's final goal when Tyler Hylland connected, also on the power-play.

Trailing 2-1 in the final six minutes of the contest, Concordia was the beneficiary of back-to-back man-advantage situations when McGill forward Antoine Dufort-Plante and Nathanael Halbert, a defenceman who assisted on both goals, were penalized for high-sticking and interference, respectively, at 14:37 and 16:46.

The Stingers were powerless to capitalize, however. Buttressed by senior goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon of St. Joseph du Lac, Que., McGill's stellar PK unit demonstrated why they led the entire league with a 90.2 per cent success rate.

Concordia held a 45-32 edge in shots, with a lopsided 20-10 margin in the final stanza. Guindon, a master's student in exercise physiology, made 34 saves and collected the victory, improving his lifetime win-loss mark to 13-5 in post season play.

Rookie Kyle Jessiman, his counterpart from Chateauguay, Que., who was added to the Stingers roster in January, made 30 saves in his playoff debut and was saddled with the loss.

"When these two teams play each other, it's more than just a hockey game," said Liam Heelis, in his first year as McGill head coach after playing for the team in 2015-16 and serving two seasons as an assistant coach. "There's a big rivalry there and a lot on the line, so the games are usually very tight and it generally comes down to the team that puts forth that little extra effort and I think we did that tonight.

"Our defencemen did an incredible job, blocking pucks, exiting our defensive zone and taking care of the puck. Up front, we have our horses there and I think we did a great job on the penalty-kill. We were relentless."

With both teams struggling on the power-play this season, the home team befuddled the experts and went 2-for-6 in their playoff opener, while the Stingers went 1-for-6. McGill's PP unit operated at 14.9 per cent and ranked 16th in the 20-team league, while ConU was just slightly better at 16.5 and ranked 13th.

McGILL MURMURS: This is 104th lifetime playoff series for the McGill men's hockey team, which entered post-season play with 55 series won. That translates into a 102-92 record in playoff games played (including Game 1 of the current series).

SCORING SUMMARY

OUA PLAYOFF SCOREBOARD

OUA STANDINGS

GAME 2 TICKETS LINK AT CONCORDIA

GAME 3 TICKETS LINK AT McGILL (ACTIVE ONLY IF CONCORDIA WINS GAME 2)