Round 3 Game 4: Battalion answer at home and push series to Game 5
North Bay, Ont. – The Oshawa Generals and North Bay Battalion had their fourth game of the Round Three Eastern Conference Finals Wednesday night at the North Bay Memorial Gardens where the Battalion came out on top 5-4 in an overtime win.
The Battalion came out ready for battle and caught the Generals flat-footed after captain Liam Arnsby earned his first of the playoffs just 38 seconds after the puck dropped. With an initial shot by Ty Nelson and a pad save by Jacob Oster, Arnsby hopped on the rebound and struck the back of the net.
12:25 remaining in the first frame and North Bay found themselves up by two after Sandis Vilmanis grabbed his eighth of the postseason by walking right in and cutting to the Generals crease for an insurance goal of 2-0.
With 17 minutes gone in the first period, Connor Lockhart got his fifth goal of the playoffs and snapped the Battalion lead in half after a picture-perfect tic-tac-toe play by Luca Marrelli gaining the offensive zone, finding Calum Ritchie, who spotted Beckett Sennecke, and Connor Lockhart was right in the slot to seal the deal and wrap up the frame within one goal reach.
A quick three minutes into the second, Sennecke brought the game to an even score with a backhand that went right through Mike McIvor.
Dylan Roobroeck joined in on the scoring after the Generals took a too-many-men penalty, forcing the score to 3-2 Oshawa. A short-handed goal was earned after the New York Rangers prospect pushed the puck on the other side of his blueline and carried it into the offensive zone before dekeing out McIvor on his backhand.
The Battalion evened out the scoreboard roughly 10 minutes into the final frame as Tnias Mathurin got his first career OHL playoff goal with a wrist shot that went past Oster’s glove to make it 3-3.
Sennecke answered immediately after a walk-in paired with a wrist shot from the high slot and brought Oshawa back in the lead at 4-3.
The troops did not give up to the pressure as with about one minute on the clock before the final buzzer, they managed to get one past Oster and tie the game after Paul Christopoulos rifled one wide through traffic.
The extended frame wrapped up with a goal from Vilmanis after six minutes when he was left wide-open and shot blocker-side past Oster and a confirmed Game Five at the Tribute Communities Centre this Friday, May 3. The series now sits at 3-1 in favour of Oshawa.
Tickets for Game Five are now on sale and can be bought here.