Gens Fall Short Against Wolves
OSHAWA, ON. – The Oshawa Generals lost 3-2 in the shootout Sunday night at the Tribute Communities Centre to the Sudbury Wolves.
Oshawa turned to Matthew Humphries for his second straight start after securing his first career OHL shutout Friday against the Peterborough Petes.
Sudbury turned to Paolo Frasca for his ninth start of the season. Frasca was coming off an impressive performance of his own, putting up 37 stops in a 4-3 victory over the North Bay Battalion on Thursday night.
The Sudbury goaltender also came into the game sporting a league-high .939 save percentage.
First Period
The first half of the first period might’ve been the best the Gens have played all season.
They were all over Sudbury, bringing pace and physicality, and took the lead just over four minutes in.
Harrison Franssen did a good job carrying the puck through the neutral zone before passing to Jacob Therrien, who drove it below the goal line and dished it out in front to Mark Pape. He made no mistake banging home his fifth of the season.
Unfortunately, the dominant play ended when the Generals started to get into penalty trouble, sending the Wolves to the power play three times in the period.
Heading into the game, Sudbury’s power play ranked second in the league in power play percentage, and they made the Gens pay with just over three minutes to go.
The Wolves moved the puck around the zone well before Artem Gonchar found Adam Nemec at the back post. Nemec fired it into the top of the net for his fourth goal of the season and tied the game up.
Due to the penalty trouble, we headed into the second period tied.
Second Period
For the first half of the second period, it was low-event hockey with each team not generating many chances, but throwing the body around plenty.
Just after the midway point of the period, the Gens broke through. After winning a puck battle in the corner of the defensive zone, Aiden O’Donnell turned it up ice to Pape. With Pape skating it through the neutral zone, he entered the Sudbury blue line and then dished it to Tyler Hinde, who slid it through Frasca’s five-hole for his sixth goal of the season.
Although it looked like the Generals would head into the third period leading, Brady Murnane got called for putting his hand on the puck in the Oshawa crease. That led to a penalty shot that Kash Kwajah scored on to tie the game with just seven seconds to go.
Third Period
Each team traded chances in the third period, but neither team could cash in, which brought us to overtime tied 2-2.
Overtime & Shootout
Like the third period, each team traded chances, but neither of them could find the back of the net, so we headed to a six-round shootout.
None of the six Gens shooters could solve Frasca, and Artem Gonchar finally solved Humphries to give Sudbury the two points.
Game Notes
The Generals played a solid game, but a strong goaltending performance from Frasca and penalty trouble sunk them.
The penalty kill did pretty well against a top power play in the league, but they spent far too much time shorthanded.
Humphries had another solid performance, putting up 28 stops through three periods and overtime, which was encouraging for Oshawa.
Next up for Oshawa, they head on the road to take on the Brampton Steelheads Friday night.
