Oshawa blanks Battalion
OSHAWA, Ont. — Goaltender Jacob Oster made 22 saves for his second Ontario Hockey League playoff shutout, backstopping the Oshawa Generals to a 3-0 victory Sunday night over the North Bay Battalion and giving Oshawa a lead of 2-0 in games in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Championship Series.
Rasmus Kumpulainen, Stuart Rolofs and Beckett Sennecke, into an empty net, scored a goal apiece for top-seeded Oshawa before a sellout crowd of 6,016 at the Tribute Communities Centre.
Goaltender Mike McIvor stopped 35 of 37 shots for the second-seeded Battalion.
Captain Liam Arnsby returned from a six-game suspension handed down after a head-checking major and game misconduct he received in a 5-4 road win April 3 over the Kingston Frontenacs in the first playoff round. The Battalion took the series in five games before sweeping the Sudbury Wolves in a conference semifinal.
The series moves to North Bay for two games, starting at 7 p.m. Monday.
“Now we go home, and we have every confidence in our ability to play well on home ice,” said coach Ryan Oulahen.
The Battalion, which trailed 2-0 through two periods, managed only three shots on goal in the final frame despite mounting multiple attacks in an effort to draw closer. Sandis Vilmanis had perhaps the best chance, on a backhander in tight at the crease in the ninth minute.
Sennecke outmuscled a defender for the puck and escorted it to the crease for the empty-netter at 19:49. Calum Ritchie and Ben Danford assisted on Sennecke’s seventh goal of the playoffs.
Oshawa, which led 1-0 after 20 minutes, doubled its lead on the power play in the middle period when Rolofs redirected a heavily screened Ritchie shot from the top of the right circle at 17:25. Luca Marrelli also assisted on Rolofs’s fourth goal.
Oshawa enjoyed four power plays, the first of the game, in the period before Danford received an interference call at 19:00 for North Bay’s first man advantage.
Owen Van Steensel was off for delay of game when Ethan Procyszyn drew a crosschecking penalty at 4:13, giving the Generals a two-man advantage for 10 seconds. Another delay-of-game penalty went to Wyatt Kennedy at 11:08, although it appeared the puck may have struck the glass on the way into the stands, and Arnsby took a slashing call at 15:36.
Kumpulainen scored at 18:29 of the first period after Matthew Buckley intercepted an attempted clearing pass. Curling to control the puck at the right point, Kumpulainen lobbed the disc past McIvor for a second postseason goal.
The Battalion started strong out of the gate, hemming the Generals in their own zone in the opening two minutes and eventually recording the first five shots on goal. The only penalties in the period saw Oshawa’s Connor Punnett handed a crosschecking minor and Dalyn Wakely issued an offsetting minor for diving at 9:32.
Wakely and Van Steensel staged a two-on-one rush in the 14th minute, but it came to naught.
BATTALION BULLETS: The Battalion has a won-lost record of 103-112 in 215 playoff games, including 47-61 on the road. The Troops are 56-46 in 102 games since relocation in 2013, with a road record of 24-27 … The Battalion is 17-25 all-time in the second game of a playoff series, including 5-10 on the road … The Battalion suffered its first playoff shutout since the visiting Hamilton Bulldogs won Game 4 of the conference final 6-0 on May 27, 2022 … Oshawa’s 20 third-period shots were the most the Troops have allowed in a frame since the host Niagara IceDogs had 23 in the second period of Game 5 of a conference quarterfinal March 29, 2019 … In 38 playoff games, Arnsby has 64 penalty minutes, tied with Ben Thomson for the most in franchise history … Wakely saw the end of a three-game scoring streak in which he had five goals … The Battalion was 0-for-1 on the power play. Oshawa went 1-for-4 … Opening lines featured Wakely centring left winger Van Steensel and right winger Jacob Therrien, Arnsby centring left winger Justin Ertel and right winger Vilmanis and Procyszyn centring left winger Andrew LeBlanc and right winger Brice Cooke. Dylan Richter centred left winger Ihnat Pazii and right winger Lirim Amidovski … The Battalion was without Dom DiVincentiis, Brayden Turley, Trevor McDowell, Anthony Romani, Nolan Laird and Stef Forgione… Charlie Larocque backed up McIvor … Sean Reid and Tyson Stewart were the referees.
