Gens cap off wild weekend with easy win
By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express
The Oshawa Generals hoped to continue their winning ways as they finished off a wild three game weekend against the Barrie Colts.
The first half of the opening period between the Gens and the Colts had both trading chances, as both goalies were kept on their toes.
Fifteen minutes into the period the scoreless tie was broken as Brandon Saigeon sniped a top-corner shot past Colts goaltender Kai Edmonds.
Less than a minute later Giovanni Vallati shot one from the corner that managed to sneak past Edmonds to give the Gens a 2-0 lead at the end of the first.
Heading into the second, the Gens were looking to further add to their lead, and they did as captain Kyle MacLean redirected a point shot from in front of the net that slipped by Edmonds to make it three unanswered goals for Oshawa.
About 10 minutes later Jason Willms put Barrie on the board, making it 3-1 at the end of the second.
While on the powerplay late in the third period, Saigeon scored his second of the game, his 35th of the season, to give the Gens a 4-1 victory over the Colts.
In earlier action the Gens were on the road taking on the Hamilton Bulldogs.
The game started out strong for Oshawa as MacLean wristed a shorthanded goal 2:38 into the game to give them the early lead.
Matthew Strome would score twice in the first for the Bulldogs, making it 2-1 at the end of the period.
To start the scoring in the second, Allan McShane skated his way past two Hamilton defenders to tie the game.
Logan Morrison then scored for Hamilton later in the period, putting the Gens behind once again heading into the third.
Being down 3-2 in the third, the Gens put pressure on the Bulldogs, but were unsuccessful until Serron Noel finished off some tic-tac-toe in front of the net, while also being on the two man advantage, to tie the game and force overtime.
While neither team was able to capitalize in overtime, the Gens were able to win the best two of three in the shootout to take the victory.
The Gens then traveled to Erie to take on the Otters, and were once again quick to open the scoring as Anthony Salinitri one-timed a goal off a pass from McShane, which would be the only goal of the first period.
Heading into the second, the Gens hoped to keep the pressure on, but the Otters were able to respond as Petr Cajka put one past Keyser to tie the game.
The Gens didn’t take that lying down, as only a few minutes later Noel tapped one past former General Cole Ceci to retake the lead.
The Otters responded by scoring two more goals in the second, giving themselves a 3-2 lead.
In the third period, just over five minutes in, Brett Neumann was able to squeak past the Otters defense and stickhandle his way to his 34th goal of the season and a tie game.
With neither team able to score again in the third, the game went to overtime, where McShane took a pass right in front of the net from Noel and was able to give the Gens the 4-3 overtime victory over the Otters.
After sweeping the three game weekend, the Gens move on to rivalry night against the Peterborough Petes tonight at 7:05 p.m. After that they have two games on the road against the Flint Firebirds and the Saginaw Spirit. The team returns home on Feb. 18, Family Day, to take on the Sudbury Wolves at 2:05 p.m.