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Oshawa Generals

Generals Drop Second of Three-Game Weekend

February 1, 2014 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Oshawa Generals News Release


Oshawa Generals made the trip up to Ottawa on Saturday for a 2:00 PM afternoon game against the 67's. Oshawa was in action less than 24 hours before when they faced the North Bay Battalion at home Friday night. The Generals dropped the game to the Battalion, who scored four unanswered goals in the third for a 5-1 victory; it was the Generals second consecutive loss after dropping last Sunday's game to the Erie Otters. The Ottawa 67's came into Saturday's game four points back of Niagara for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with two games at hand over the IceDogs. Ottawa was 3-7-0-0 in their last ten games, including a 6-0 loss to Peterborough on Thursday.

The 67's and Generals got off to a chippy start, which culminated into a fight between Hunter Smith and Jonathan Duchesne just four minutes and eighteen seconds into the game. Although Smith appeared to win the fight it was the 67's who fed off the energy and responded with a short offensive surge shortly after, being capped by the first goal of the game. Travis Konecny would use his speed on the goal to beat Oshawa defenseman Will Petchsenig with a deke and get a short side shot off, Erik Bradford followed up the rebound and was able to beat Oshawa goalie Kenny Appleby to make the game 1-0 at 11:09.

Trailing after one period, the Generals looked to even the score early in the second however, Ottawa goalie Philippe Trudeau turned aside the Generals early chances. Ottawa was able to go up by two when veteran winger Ryan Van Stralen beat Appleby on the short side for his 24th of the season at 12:35. Oshawa continued to outshoot the 67's but were unable to find the back of the net for the remainder of the period. Ottawa was awarded a PowerPlay late in the period on a Dylan Smoskowitz tripping minor, Van Stralen scored on the PowerPlay on a behind the back pass from Erik Bradford for his second of the game, the 67's took the 3-0 lead into the second intermission.

The Generals came out in the third looking to get back in the game, Daniel Altshuller was put in net for Oshawa as they tried to get some momentum on their side. The Gens ran into some penalty trouble in the period and struggled to sustain offensive chances. Ottawa couldn't capitalize on the PowerPlays and the game stayed 3-0 until Ottawa's Van Stralen scored an empty net goal at 19:35 to complete the hat-trick. Rookie Stephen Desrocher scored with seven seconds remaining to break Trudeau's shutout bid, he was solid otherwise stopping 33 of 34 Generals shots.

Oshawa has less than 24 hours off again as they face the Mississauga Steelheads at home Sunday afternoon, puck drop is scheduled for 2:05 PM at the GM Centre.

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