Gens stifle Owen Sound in OT

By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express

As families gathered in the Tribute Communities Centre to celebrate Family Day, the Generals took home a nailbiter with an overtime victory against Owen Sound.

The game didn’t start off in Oshawa’s favour as the Attack scored the first two goals of the game, forcing the Gens to fight from behind in the second period.

It was more than three-quarters of the way through the second when Ryan Gagnier broke the shutout. The forward found the back of the net when he took a pass from along the boards, and rifled it past goaltender Mack Guzda.

Then defender Lleyton Moore stole the puck in the neutral zone during a line change and tied the game with a rocket after weaving through defenders.

With the game tied at two heading into the third, both teams were looking for an opportunity to take the lead, and Owen Sound took advantage quickly.

But, as the period was drawing to a close, and the Gens began to put pressure on Owen Sound, Allan McShane forced his way past the defense to the front of the net, where he tied the game back up and forced overtime.

Playing some 3-on-3 hockey in overtime, the Gens’ Brett Neumann was able to take advantage of the power play and flipped    one past Guzda to take the victory.

Going one-for-four on the power play, and outshooting their opponent 32-27, Moore took home the second star of the game after scoring his third of the season.

In earlier action, the Gens were in Erie taking on the Otters.

It took less than five minutes for Oshawa to break open the scoring, as Philip Tomasino left the defense confused as he stickhandled and spun to score the opening goal.

Then, as the period was coming to a close, Brett Harrison found himself with only goaltender Daniel Murphy between him and the net when he took a pass from Jacob Winterton.

The rookie forward scored his 18th goal of the season to take a two-goal lead.

The scoring continued for the Gens, as Ryan Stepien quickly took advantage as Erie defenders lost track of the puck in front of the net, giving the Gens a 3-0 lead.

Oshawa was then on the power play when Erie’s Chad Yetman scored a shorthanded goal to end the shutout.

However, the Gens responded on the same power play when Harrison picked up a blocked shot and slid it past Murphy to add to the lead.

Kurtis Henry then added one more for the Otters, cutting the lead in half heading into the final frame.

Once again the Gens were quick to add   to their goal total as Oliver Suni deflected a pass in front of the net to make it 5-2 Oshawa.

However, Erie would then begin to find the back of the net as they scored three goals to tie the game, forcing overtime which eventually moved on to a shootout.

Despite Tomasino finding the back of the net during the shootout, the Gens were not able to do so again as two Otters scored on  Zachary Paputsakis to hand Oshawa the    loss.

In all Oshawa was outshot 44-25, while going 2-for-5 on the power play, and not taking home any stars of the game.

Oshawa also took on the Soo Greyhounds at home on Friday night, where they once again lost 6-5 in a shootout.

Oshawa was outshot 39-35, and once again went 2-for-5 on the power play. Neumann also took home the first star of the game after scoring a natural hat trick in the third period.

The Gens return home on Sunday, Feb. 23 to take on the Windsor Spitefires at 6:05 p.m.