It was just what the doctor ordered.
After two straight shootout losses, the Guelph Storm wasn't going to take a chance on three straight Friday night at the Sleeman Centre.
In one of the bigger comebacks in recent memory, the Storm rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game with three goals in the third, then won it in overtime, downing the North Bay Battalion 5-4.
The comeback also included killing off a five-minute slew footing major to Eric Frossard late in the third period.
"We've been going in the right direction here and that's a good comeback for us going forward," said two-goal scorer Ryan McGuire, who also had an assist and did yeoman's work on the penalty kill. "It's one of those things when the crowd gets into it you know you're right there.
"It's a happy room in there right now. We definitely need those points if we're going to get in the playoffs."
The win leaves Guelph five points back of Sault Ste. Marie for the final playoff spot.
Even the most diehard of Storm fans couldn't have seen this one coming. In fact many were likely on their way to their cars after a dull opening two periods that Saw the Storm down 3-0 after one and 4-0 late in the second, with little indication they were capable of getting back into it.
The worm started to turn with 1:48 left in the second period when McGuire got the Storm on the board.
Lev Katzin brought the library-like Sleeman Centre crowd back into the game when he made it 4-2 very early in the third.
Goals by Charlie Paquette and McGuire just under four minutes apart, the latter with 8:45 left in regulation, blew the roof off the rink.
Namestnikov sent everyone home happy scoring 1:10 into overtime.
Overtime almost felt like a formality.
So when North Bay forward Ethan Procysyn gambled his team would garner a loose puck and send him on a breakaway, it proved to be a bad decision when Lev Katzin ended up with the puck and Guelph had a three-on-two in the North Bay zone.
Katzin found Namestnikov in the high slot, the overage forward waited, toe dragged, then fired a wrister past Jack Lisson in the Battalion net.
"We had a three on two, (Katzin) drew a guy to him and I kind of had a lot of time to walk in and make a move," Namestnikov said of the winner.
"The building was shaking when we tied the game and we had all the momentum going into overtime."
Not to be lost in the excitement was the work of Colin Ellsworth in the Storm net. After allowing four goals on the first 12 shots he faced, he went on to make 17 straight saves in keeping his team in it.
Guelph hosts the Saginaw Spirit Saturday at 7 p.m.