BLUELINES: Generals’ coach DJ Smith vows Game 2 will be different
Oshawa Generals’ head coach DJ Smith may be excused for looking haggard during the post-game presser following his team’s embarrassing 6-1 home loss in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Championship Series.
In fact, his miserable look was shared by most of the 5,555 who witnessed the carnage. In a city that is familiar with the idea of recalls, this was a model that should’ve never rolled off the lot.
“I thought we were alright in the first period,” offered a weary Smith, “but our power play really let us down and cost us momentum. In the second period we got away from our game and started cheating and started playing in a way we haven’t played in a long time.”
The evening began as most evenings at a raucous General Motors Centre do, and nine seconds into the game an uproarious crowd bent the needle as Jake Smith’s errant clearing attempt sent the puck over the glass.
Call it a stroke of luck perhaps, but the ill-timed penalty may have been an ideal way for the Battalion to weather what was likely to have been a period of sustained Oshawa pressure, for the first 10 minutes at least, fuelled by fans as is often the case in emotional series openers. First Miles Liberati cruised past his goaltender and issued an encouraging word and whack across the pads, then the captain, Marcus McIvor, did the same, before turning his attention to the task at hand, getting the OHL’s best penalty killing unit ready for battle.
And battle they did.
In what seemed like an endless parade of Battalion penalties, the penalty-killing unit turned back every assault, with Jake Smith answering the bell when called upon. He was calm and cool, with an efficiency of movements often associated with the very best NHL goaltenders.
With each penalty kill, the crowd quieted down just a little more, until rookie forward Zach Poirier ripped home the equalizer early in the second period. By then the GM Centre roar had been reduced to a trickle.
“You’d be hard-pressed to ever see us play like that again,” warned the Generals coach, fielding a barrage of questions, with an obviously shell-shocked Michael McCarron beside him.
McCarron had been the least of DJ Smith’s worries, setting the tone of the series early as he did, by steamrolling Liberati in the first period, and firing the series’ first goal through, and ultimately over, the outstretched glove of Jake Smith. But even so, while McCarron and the Generals’ other big bodies were out looking to staple the Troops into the boards, they were making mistakes, committing costly turnovers that ultimately cost them the game.
The Battalion on the other hand was playoff-savvy. They wore last year’s learning experience well, and were unflappable in the face of tremendous adversity. But they know the series is far from over.
DJ Smith’s careful wording to the media was as much a warning to the Battalion as it was to his own players.
“They’ll be ready," said DJ Smith, when asked what needed to be said to his players. "That’s probably our worst game of the season as a team. They’ll be ready.”
