Friday Highlights: Trio of playoff tickets punched

North Bay Battalion 3, Oshawa Generals 0

2023 NHL Draft prospect Charlie Robertson stopped all 28 shots he faced, recording his second straight shutout
Newly-signed Dallas Stars prospect Kyle McDonald scored twice, netting his first career shorthanded goal
Oshawa’s Jacob Oster earned third star honours, making 35 saves as the Generals were outshot 38-28
Generals overage veteran Cameron Butler played in his 250th career OHL contest
The Battalion have won five in a row, with shutouts in three of four, improving to 42-17-2-1 atop the Central Division
The Generals have lost four straight, sitting one point up on Kingston for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference

Soo Greyhounds 3, Sarnia Sting 6

Sault Ste. Marie’s Ryan Thompson opened the scoring with his first of the season before Sarnia took over with four consecutive goals
Nashville Predators prospect Nolan Burke was the game’s first star with his 44th goal of the season along with an assist; he extended his points streak to 11 games
Marko Sikic, Cooper Way and Boston Bruins prospect Ryan Mast each picked up two assists
Nicholas Surzycia was in goal for the win, making 14 saves opposite Sault Ste. Marie’s Samuel Ivanov, who stopped 34
The game featured just three minor penalties
The Sting have won six in a row, improving to 35-17-4-3 for third in the Western Conference

Owen Sound Attack 3, Kitchener Rangers 8

Colby Barlow opened the scoring shorthanded with his 45th of the season before Kitchener poured it on with five consecutive tallies
Carson Rehkopf and Francesco Arcuri both scored twice while Montreal Canadiens prospect Filip Mesar had three assists
Captain Francesco Pinelli scored and added two assists while Lleyton Moore had two helpers
Marco Costantini stopped 30 of 33 for the win as Kitchener went 3-for-5 on the man advantage
The Rangers clinched a playoff spot with their sixth straight win, climbing ahead of Owen Sound and into seventh in the Western Conference standings
The Attack have lost four straight, falling to 29-26-4-1

Niagara IceDogs 2, Hamilton Bulldogs 6

Lawson Sherk followed-up Thursday’s three-point performance with another two goals, guiding Hamilton to a 17th straight win over Niagara
Sahil Panwar and Nick Lardis both scored goals while rookie defenceman Callum Cheynowski scored the first of his OHL career
Christopher O’Flaherty scored both Niagara goals, opening and closing the night’s scoring
Hamilton outshot Niagara 45-18, with the win earning them a spot in the 2023 OHL Playoffs
Niagara’s loss is their ninth in a row as the IceDogs fall to 11-42-8-1

Peterborough Petes 4, Kingston Frontenacs 2

The Petes struck back against Kingston following an OT loss at home on Thursday as Avery Hayes’ 38th of the season was the third period game winner
Tucker Robertson scored his 35th goal of the season while Brennan Othmann hit the empty net for his 27th
Owen Outwater and Gabriel Frasca scored Kingston goals in the third period, ending Michael Simpson’s shutout bid
Simpson stopped 24 of 26 for the win opposite Mason Vaccari, who made 31 saves in defeat
The win secures the Petes a spot in the 2023 OHL Playoffs as they currently own a record of 32-25-2-2

Mississauga Steelheads 3, Ottawa 67’s 10

A game tied 3-3 after one period spiralled out of control as Ottawa struck for seven unanswered in a 10-3 victory
Will Gerrior and Cameron Tolnai both scored twice while Jack Matier had a goal and two assists for Ottawa
Both goaltenders were pulled in this one, with Collin MacKenzie coming in to stop 16-of-16 to earn the win
Mississauga’s James Hardie earned an assist, passing Darryl Bootland (1998-2002) and Riley Brace (2008-2013) to become the Mississauga/Toronto franchise’s all-time points leader with 235 in his OHL career
Ottawa’s ninth win in the last 10 games improves the 67’s to 45-11-3-2 at the top of the League standings
Mississauga has lost five in a row, trailing fifth place Hamilton by six points in the Eastern Conference

London Knights 5, Sudbury Wolves 4

London scored three in the first, Sudbury responded with three in the second and the Knights had the upper hand in the third as Ruslan Gazizov completed his first career OHL hat trick
Gazizov finished the night with three goals and an assist while Easton Cowan had a goal and two helpers and Sudbury product Max McCue had a goal and an assist
Sudbury’s Kocha Delic scored twice in the loss
London improves to 42-17-2-0 at the top of the Western Conference standings
The 27-26-5-3 Wolves remain eight points up on eighth place Oshawa in the Eastern Conference

Windsor Spitfires 7, Guelph Storm 4

Alex Christopoulos scored a hat trick, netting his 42nd, 43rd and 44th goals of the season
New York Islanders prospect Matthew Maggio scored his league-leading 48th goal of the campaign
Former Storm forward Jacob Maillet finished the night with a goal and three helpers for Windsor while Shane Wright had a goal and two assists
Max Namestnikov scored twice for Guelph, his 30th and 31st of the season
The chippy affair featured a total of 16 power plays, with Windsor going 1-for-6 and Guelph going 2-for-10
The Spitfires are 39-16-4-2, six points up on second place Sarnia in the West Division
Guelph has now lost three in a row, but managed to clinch a playoff spot with a Sault Ste. Marie loss on Friday