Troops beat Generals 4-1

BRAMPTON, Ont. – Brad Topping made 19 saves and came within 91 seconds of his first career OHL shutout as the Battalion beat the Oshawa Generals 4-1 on Thursday night in front of 2,002 fans at the Bunker. The Troops are now unbeaten in four games heading into Friday night´s division clash with the Kitchener Rangers.
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"It would have been nice to get the shutout," said Topping whose father and sister celebrated birthdays on Thursday, "but the team won and that´s the good thing. The defence played really well. All of their shots were from the outside so I didn´t have to make too many tough saves."
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The Battalion came out strong in the opening frame and when Paul Flache scored at 5:03 the Troops had the lead in the first period for the first time since January 5 at Sault Ste. Marie.
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Flache scored his seventh of the season after taking a pass in the slot from Jeff Bateman and steering a backhand past Oshawa netminder Derek Dolson. Aaron Van Leusen collected the second assist.
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Shortly after Flache´s goal, Topping was called on to make a big save on recently acquired Gens forward Scott Rozendal and Chris Rowan narrowly missed a chance at the other end to stretch the Battalion lead when he rang a shot off the post.
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"We came out harder tonight than we did on Sunday against Kitchener," said Paul Flache, "and I think if we keep playing consistently we won´t have to keep coming from behind. I´ve noticed a big improvement in our team and the guys are having a lot more fun too."
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After outshooting Oshawa 20-4 in the first period the Troops came out looking for another goal and managed to take a 2-0 lead at 2:57 when Rostislav Klesla scored his seventh of the year from Jay McClement and Ryan Bowness. Klesla brought the puck out from behind the Generals net and flipped a backhand into the far side.
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Raffi Torres put the Troops ahead 3-0 with his 18th goal of the year at 12:11 of the second period. Torres took a pas in front of the net from Jeff Bateman and although he appeared to fan on the shot, the puck managed to elude Dolson. Jason Maleyko picked up the second assist. The helper was Maleyko´s 100th career OHL point.
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With a little more than four minutes remaining in the third period, there was a nine minute delay, as a pane of glass in the Battalion end had to be replaced.
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When play resumed, the Battalion continued to neutralize the Generals but Oshawa eventually ruined Brad Topping´s shutout bid at 18:29 when Eric Larochelle fired a wrist shot from the point through a sea of bodies in front and beat Topping between the legs. Pat Montgomery and Jon Hedberg picked up assists on Larochelle´s third goal of the season.
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With less than a minute remaining, Derek Dolson vacated the Generals goal and Jonah Leroux, acquired from Oshawa for Mike Rice in November, ended the scoring with an empty net marker from Jay McClement and Scott Thompson.
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The Battalion outshot the Generals 40-20.
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"I thought we generated a lot of scoring chances especially in the first period," observed Battalion Head Coach Stan Butler, "but we tried to get too fancy and we didn´t finish around the net like we needed to and consequently it made the game a lot tougher for the next two periods than it needed to be."
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"It was a good win," acknowledged defenceman Jay Harrison, "but I think we learned that we have to stay focussed and while we came away with two points, I like to think we learned a valuable lesson."
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"It was tough to stay focussed," agreed Raffi Torres, "but we had a little lapse late in the game and it cost Brad a shutout."
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Brian Finley, Travis Parent and Adam Henrich did not dress for Brampton.
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Former Battalion defenceman Brad Woods, Mike Rusenstrom, Sean Stefanski, Brandon Nolan and Paul Ranger were scratched for Oshawa.
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The Battalion is still in fourth place in the Midwest Division, but the win moves them to within four points of the Owen Sound Attack. The Troops are eight points ahead of the Kitchener Rangers, who play host to the Battalion Friday night after dropping a 6-4 decision to Brampton at the Bunker last Sunday.
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