Oshawa nips Troops with 1-0 decision
OSHAWA, Ont. – For a Family Day game at which the Oshawa Generals honoured opposing coach Stan Butler of the Brampton Battalion, the teams’ Ontario Hockey League meeting Monday was a feisty affair that sometimes threatened to break into worse.
Goaltender Peter Di Salvo made 38 saves for his first shutout of the season, supporting Andy Andreoff’s late second-period power-play goal and giving Oshawa a 1-0 victory.
Oshawa has won its last five games and boasts a won-lost-extended record of 33-16-8 for 74 points, second in the East Division and fourth in the Eastern Conference. The Generals’ last loss was a 6-5 setback to the host Sudbury Wolves on Feb. 11.
Battalion goaltender Matej Machovsky faced 35 shots, including a Boone Jenner penalty shot, before a holiday matinee crowd of 5,804 who witnessed plenty of shoving and pushing.
The Battalion, which had won its previous two games, is 24-27-6 for 56 points, third in the Central Division and sixth in the conference. The Troops are three points behind the fifth-place Kingston Frontenacs, who defeated the visiting Ottawa 67’s 4-3 and have a game in hand.
“It’s another one of those games where we can’t be upset with how we played,” said Battalion assistant coach Ryan Oulahen. “We played hard, solid defensive hockey. We had our chances, but for some reason or other we just couldn’t score. It’s a game we could have won, and it was tough to lose it 1-0.”
The Troops, who downed Ottawa 3-2 via shootout at home Sunday, failed to capitalize on the rescheduling of an Oshawa game on the weekend. The Generals won 4-3 by shootout over the host Owen Sound Attack on Sunday night. The game originally was set for Saturday night, but snow closed roads in the Owen Sound area.
“It was a typical last game of the weekend,” said Oulahen. “Both teams were keeping it simple, blocking shots and paying the price. The Generals are a good team and one of the top teams on this side. They did what they had to do to get the win.”
The Battalion, which managed one shot on goal during a two-man advantage lasting 43 seconds early in the third period, pulled Machovsky for a sixth attacker with 52 seconds left but couldn’t beat Di Salvo and was shut out for the third time this season.
Machovsky made a left-pad save against Jenner on the penalty shot, awarded at 15:28 of the period after he got two shots on the goaltender off a breakaway.
Andreoff struck on the power play at 19:47 of the middle frame, rifling the rebound of a shot by Christian Thomas past Machovsky from deep in the right-wing circle. Calvin de Haan drew the other assist on Andreoff’s 29th goal of the season.
Tempers flared at 6:56 of the period when the Battalion’s Andreas Tsogkas was called for boarding and Oshawa’s Emerson Clark for slashing. Clark got the takedown in a scrap with Craig Moore, with both combatants receiving fighting majors as well as misconducts for removing their helmets.
With the teams skating four a side in the eighth minute, Machovsky produced a big right-pad stop against Thomas.
“Matej was amazing today,” said Oulahen. “He made a couple of unbelievable saves that had all of us on the bench wondering how he did it. That save he made on Thomas was incredible, and he came up big on the penalty shot.”
After Spencer Abraham went off for tripping at 15:45, penalty killer Sam Carrick stole the puck from de Haan in front of the Oshawa net and set up Philip Lane alone in the slot, but his shot went high and wide.
Oshawa had the only power play of the first period after Lane went off for slashing at 7:04. Machovsky denied Andreoff with a solid blocker save late in the man advantage before covering up on back-to-back attempts by Andreoff at the right post at 13:39.
Scott Tanski had the Troops’ best scoring chance in the 19th minute when he pursued a puck skittering toward Di Salvo, who emerged from his crease to sprawl for the disc. Tanski did the same, and the puck slipped under the goaltender and just outside the left post.
The Battalion scratched Michael Santini. Oshawa scratched Anton Zupancic, Nick Quinn, Josh Graves and Lucas Lessio.
The Battalion visits the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
BATTALION NOTEBOOK: The Battalion went 0-for-4 on the power play. Oshawa was 1-for-3 … The Battalion is 11-15-3 on the road. The Generals are 18-6-4 at home. Oshawa hasn’t lost at home since falling 6-5 in overtime to the London Knights on Jan. 23 … Butler was recognized before the game for being credited with coaching 1,000 OHL games. Butler, who reached the milestone Feb. 10 with a 3-1 home-ice victory over Oshawa, began his OHL career with a two-year tenure with the Generals starting in 1994-95 … Opening line combinations included Carrick centring left winger Ian Watters and Barclay Goodrow on right wing, Moore pivoting left winger Stephon Thorne and right winger Tanski and Domenic Alberga centring Jonathan Johansson on left wing and right winger Lane. Tsogkas centred left winger Alex O’Neil and right winger Matt MacLeod … Thorne returned after missing one game with a leg injury but left early in the first period … Santini, who turns 20 on Tuesday, lost a ninth game to a high-ankle sprain … Battalion assistant coach Kelly Harper missed a third consecutive game for personal reasons … Tanski had registered two goals and three assists for five points in the previous four games … Johansson saw the end of a three-game points run in which he had two goals and two assists for four points … Thomas has eight goals and four assists for 12 points in a six-game points streak … Lessio sat out after being injured blocking a shot at Owen Sound, while Generals defenceman Scott Valentine wore a cage after taking a puck to the face … The Battalion, which won the first two games of the four-game season series, both at Brampton, returns to Oshawa on March 19.
