Generals look for bounce-back win against Knights in OHL Final on TSN
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The Oshawa Generals look to even up their series with the London Knights in Game 2 of the Ontario Hockey League Championship series on Saturday night.
Oshawa is coming off an 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Knights that saw Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan go off for a goal and four assists.
Winnipeg Jets prospect Jacob Julien recorded a goal and two assists while 2024 NHL top prospect Sam Dickinson picked up three assists.
Oliver Bonk and Ruslan Gazizov also scored a pair of goals while Denver Barkey and Jared Woolley added two points each.
Vancouver Canucks prospect Connor Lockhart scored the lone goal for the Generals.
Michael Simpson stopped 24 of 25 shots in net to take the victory in Game 1. He now has a 13-2 record in the playoffs with a 2.48 goals-against average and .914 save percentage.
Oshawa's Jacob Oster took the loss after allowing seven goals on 32 shots. He has a 12-6 record in the playoffs with a 2.59 GAA and .915 save percentage.
"This was an unacceptable effort from our team regardless of how long our series [with North Bay] was," Lockhart told reporters after the game on Thursday. "We're here for a reason. We have some things to clean up and [Game 2] is a game that will show what type of group we are."
The Generals will look to Colorado Avalanche prospect Calum Ritchie and top NHL prospect Beckett Sennecke for more offence as the series goes on.
Ritchie missed the first couple of months of the season while recovering from shoulder surgery but went on to lead the Generals in scoring with 28 goals and 80 points in 50 regular season games.
The 6-foot-2 centre was Oshawa's nominee for the Red Tilson Award as the OHL's most outstanding player, which eventually was awarded to Cowan. Ritchie continued his dominance in the playoffs with six goals and 25 points and is second in post-season scoring.
Sennecke is just behind Ritchie in the playoff scoring race with 10 goals and 22 points, including four goals and seven points against North Bay in the Eastern Conference Championship Series. He finished the regular season with 27 goals and 68 points in 63 games.
After Saturday's contest, the series will shift to Oshawa for Game 3 on Monday at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT and that game can be seen on TSN, the exclusive home of the CHL Championship Series.