Ontario Hockey Association

Even a brief letdown can be disastrous against the Essex 73's.

The Wallaceburg Lakers learned that lesson the hard way Wednesday night.

A scoreless tie turned into a three-goal lead in a hurry for the 73's, who are halfway to their fourth straight Great Lakes Junior 'C' Hockey League championship.

They scored three second-period goals in a span of 6:20 for a 4-1 win in Game 2 of the final series at Wallaceburg Memorial Arena.

"If you let down, they're going to jump all over you," Lakers forward Shawn Lubbers said. "They're a machine, as coach says. We have to match their work ethic."

The Lakers trail 2-0 in the best-of-seven series after winning their first eight playoff games.

They got a reminder Wednesday that the 73's are in a different class than their previous opponents from Blenheim and Mooretown.

"First period, we were right there," Lakers head coach Mark Davis said. "Second period, we were right there until the 12-minute mark - and then, boom."

A.J. Sweet opened the scoring at 5:43, snapping a shot through a pile of bodies in front of Wallaceburg's net.

"They got that one goal and everyone got excited then," Lakers assistant captain Nash Lozon said. "We started running around and got away from the game plan."

Anthony Iaquinta squeezed a shot between Lakers goalie Ryan George and the right post for a 2-0 lead at 11:28.

Thirty-five seconds later, Sean Ducharme weaved through the Lakers' defence for the third goal.

"We had a lot of positive points," Lubbers said. "Other than those five minutes, we forechecked hard, skated hard, played defence awesome. We did a lot of things right.

"Then in those five minutes, we let down and they jumped all over us."

Dan Croft scored on a power play in the third period at 8:32 for a 4-0 lead.

The 73's were 1-for-5 on the power play after scoring six goals with a man advantage in Tuesday's 8-2 win.

Justin Young spoiled Essex goalie Branden Robitaille's shutout bid with a point shot at 11:07.

Robitaille finished with 22 saves and George made 24.

The Lakers are still looking for their first goal from a forward in the series. Their only scorers in the first two games (Brad Biggers and Young) are defencemen.

"We just have to be patient in their end and eventually we'll get a goal and start filling the net," Lozon said.

The series returns to Wallaceburg next Wednesday for Game 4 at 7:30 p.m.