A three-goal victory puts the Oshawa Generals ahead 3-0 in the best of seven Eastern Conference Finals, defeating North Bay 5-2 at Memorial Gardens on Monday night.
It was another penalty filled affair that was heavily slanted to one side. So much so that by the end of the second period the Battalion had a power play advantage for all of one minute and five seconds, while the Generals to that point had spent nine minutes of game time with the extra attacker.
The game ended with Oshawa going 1/5 on their power plays, while the Battalion never gained another power play, going 1/2 on their chances and have now been out-chanced 15-6 overall in the series.
“The backs are certainly against the walls here,” says Battalion Head Coach Ryan Oulahen. “I actually loved our game for the most part. Obviously there are some circumstances that didn’t go our way tonight, but if we give the kind of effort that we gave in the third period, I like what I see moving forward. I really do think we are that close to getting one that will get us rolling.”
The Battalion outshot the Generals 16-7 in the third period and 41-31 overall and put together what looked to be their best consistent offensive effort of the series within the last half of the third.
Even with no goals getting through Oshawa netminder Jacob Oster in that sequence, the Troops had the Generals scrambling around their own zone and Oulahen says that's the kind of effort he expects to see for 60 minutes in Wednesdays potential elimination game.
“I wouldn’t want to go into Wednesday with any other group. This is a group that is ready to rock and I can’t wait to see them play Wednesday.”
For about 16 minutes, the North Bay Battalion played a perfect first period. They got an early lead, made good passes and kept Oshawa’s attack, mostly to the perimeter.
Just over a minute a half in, Andrew LeBlanc drove into the attacking zone trying to get by two Oshawa defenceman. He got through but was hauled down in front of the net just as he got the shot off, giving the Battalion an early power play advantage.
It didn’t take them long for to capitalize as right off the offensive zone draw the Battalion got pressure on the Oshawa net, and in the bottom left side circle, Owen Van Steensel found the puck, spun and fired and beat Oster for the opening goal in game three, making it 1-0 North Bay at 2:33.
His linemate Dalyn Wakely spoke about the team looking to generate offensive without 58-goal scorer Anthony Romani in the lineup, dealing with an injury suffered in the first round of the playoffs.
“It’s been a big loss for our group but the strength of the team is the depth of the group and the guys that are filling in are doing a great job,” says Wakely. “We really don’t try to change a whole lot, just hammer away and keep doing what we are good at and let the rest take care of itself.”
The Battalion didn’t get out of the first unscathed, and shortly after the officials missed what was a head shot on North Bay forward Justin Ertel, the Battalion were penalized with Jacob Therrien going into the box for slashing.
As the penalty was expiring, Ertel threw a hard hit on the boards, sending the officials arm up for a delayed penalty call. Therrien came back onto the ice as the Generals sent out the extra attacker with a 6-on-5 opportunity. Oshawa capitalized with Colorado Avalanche prospect Calum Ritchie (5) getting some space in the far-side circle and received a pass from Beckett Sennecke right onto his tape which he fired in for the one-timer, beating North Bay goaltender Mike McIvor glove side to tie the game 1-1 at 18:36.
“We break the game down into five-minute chunks and you want to win every five minutes,” says Oulahen. “So far we have been losing the last five minutes of the first period. That right there is an area where we can clean up and be a lot better in that scenario. If we get through that, up by one, its probably a different narrative the rest of the way.”
Oshawa took the lead early in the second period. Ritchie flipped the puck up the wing to Stuart Rolofs who slid the puck across the top of the crease and it banked off the skate on Battalion defenseman Bronson Ride who was blocking an Oshawa player on the far side post. The puck went off Ride's skate and re-directed behind McIvor to give Oshawa their first lead of the game, 2-1 at 3:01.
The Battalion seemingly had the game tied five minutes into the second period but after two separate reviews, one to deem if the play was offside, another to look at contact with the goaltender. After a long review, the officials decided there was incidental contact from North Bay which didn’t allow Oster to make the save on the shot by Van Steensel. Just 24 hours earlier, there was a similar play in Oshawa where the Generals Connor Lockhart knocked over McIvor in the North Bay net, but the puck got cycled back to the blue line and the officials said that should’ve been enough time for McIvor to recover to make the save.
“They said it was goaltender interference,” says Oulahen when asked if he was given an explanation for the reversal which took the officials no less than 10 minutes to review on the ipad at the penalty boxes.
“They said our player made contact with the goaltender and he couldn’t play the puck.”
It was Lockhart himself who scored a few minutes later, on yet another Generals power play. With Ertel in the box for slashing, the Battalion couldn’t get the puck out of their own zone and Lockhart stepped into a shot that got through to give Oshawa a 3-1 lead at 7:49.
Beckett Sennecke followed that up going coast to coast with a highlight reel goal that could easily be the best goal of the entire post-season. From behind his own blue line, he drove through the neutral zone, dangling the puck past a couple of players to get one-on-one with McIvor before dangling in front of the North Bay netminder and flipping it over McIvor to put Oshawa ahead 4-1 at 9:39.
Oshawa was sent to the penalty box for the second time in the game at 13:35 with Ritchie getting called for hooking, although it only evened up the numbers on the ice as the Battalion were in the middle of killing off a five-minute major, assessed to Brice Cook for a cross-check which also resulted in a game misconducted.
During the four-on-four play, Luca D’Amato took down Wakely in the corner in the Oshawa zone and it set the Battalion up for a four-on-three power play, just their second of the game to that point. It lasted only a minute as Ritchie came out of the box and it was back to four-on-four, meaning through the first 35 or so minutes of the game, the Battalion had a power play advantage for all of one minute and five seconds, while the Generals to that point had spent nine minutes of game time with the extra attacker.
The Battalion got a quick goal to start the third period. A nice passing play started with Ty Nelson keeping the puck at the blue line and feeding the puck to Wakely who quickly dished it over to Vilmanis in the slot, and he slapped a one-timer past Oster to cut the lead in half to 4-2 at 2:12.
At 3:49 Oshawa answered back when Ritchie scored his second of the game and sixth of the post-season to restore the three-goal advantage.
The Battalion will now need to win four straight games to avoid losing a third straight Eastern Conference finals series and Wakely said confidently that it all starts Wednesday, by playing in front of the best home crowd in the league with 4200 in attendance on Monday evening.
“It’s awesome to play here, we have the best fans in the league. We love coming home and getting to play in front of them. Disappointing from our standpoint to not get them a win tonight, but on Wednesday night we’re looking to change that.”
Game four is set for a 7 p.m. puck drop at Memorial Gardens.
