Gens’ rebound comes up short in loss to Steelheads
Two-goal performance from top rookie Commisso not enough to lift Oshawa over Mississauga
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
Domenic Commisso slides the puck past the skate of Steelheads’ goaltender Jack Flinn. (Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express)
Dropping two straight to the rival Peterborough Petes was a punch to the gut for the Oshawa Generals, and the ache still hadn’t faded on Sunday when the Generals lost another in a shootout to the visiting Mississauga Steelheads in front of 5,758 fans at the General Motors Centre.
The loss was Oshawa’s ninth in the last 10 games.
Despite the team’s recent record, head coach Bob Jones was encouraged by the play of his team in Sunday’s game.
Jalen Smereck collides with a Steelheads player during Oshawa’s matchup on Nov. 30 at the General Motors Centre (Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express).
“I was very happy with our effort. If we play like that, we’ll win way more games than we lose. I thought that’s the closest thing we’ve played to a 60-minute game,” Jones said. “I was happy with our goaltending, I was happy with our D and I was extremely happy with everybody’s effort tonight.”
It was another slow start for the Gens, who were unable to record a shot on net in the first 10 minutes of the opening period.
Oshawa’s Stephen Templeton drops to block a shot on Nov. 28 at the General Motors Centre. (Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express).
Mississauga had better luck, getting one past netminder Jeremy Brodeur after rookie winger Owen Tippet got a goal on the first shot of the game.
Oshawa would get a few powerplay chances in the period on a pair of Steelhead interference calls, but were unable to capitalize. The frame would end with the Gens trailing by one.
The importance of a fast start is not lost on Jones, who says the odds of winning when leading after the first are nearly 60 per cent, but he didn’t have many concerns with the lack of offence from his team to start the game.
“I think our starts have been a little bit weak at home, but tonight I know we didn’t get anything in the first nine minutes on net, but we were solid defensively,” he said.
It was clear in the second that Oshawa was looking to make up for their lacklustre beginning in the offensive zone.
After killing off a Matt Mistele minor for slashing, a long sequence ensued around the Mississauga net. However, despite a peppering of shots, nothing found its way past Steelheads’ goaltender Jack Flinn and instead, the play went the other way and a shot found its way past Brodeur to increase the lead to two.
Oshawa was undeterred by Flinn stonewalling the team’s goal attempts, with Michael Dal Colle finding rookie Domenic Commisso about two minutes after Mississauga’s second goal, with the rookie getting the Gens on the board.
The pressure continued, but things took a bad turn for Commisso when, while trying to clear the zone, flipped the puck a little too high, sending it into the crowd for a delay of game penalty.
A strong penalty kill from Oshawa followed with a few key saves from Brodeur to keep the game close.
Then, with the penalty over, Commisso hopped out of the box as the puck squirted from the zone and found himself on the breakaway.
It was forehand, backhand and into the back of the net, past the skate of a sprawling Finn as the Gens rookie scored his second of the night to tie it.
“I thought I had a good game tonight. Bounces went my way out of the box there,” Commisso said after the loss. “I’m disappointed we didn’t get the win, but it’s a good step in the right direction.”
The Generals would need to kill a couple more penalties as both Jacob Graves and Lukas Lofquist found their way to the sin bin in the third.
However, at the end of regulation, the score would stay tied with Oshawa outshooting their opponent 34-25.
Five minutes of three-on-three overtime settled nothing, but had the crowd on their feet with both goalies making sprawling saves on odd-man rushes and breakaways going both ways and some spectacular defensive moves from Mitch Vande Sompel and Daniel Robertson.
In the shootout, Flinn would prove to be the difference. Tippet would beat Brodeur to give Mississauga the advantage and both Vande Sompel and Commisso couldn’t find the back of the net. Matt Mistele would try for the corner on a wrist shot, but Flinn’s blocker would get in the way and seal with victory.
The Generals hit the road this weekend with games against the Soo Greyhounds on Satuday and the Sudbury Wolves the following night.
Oshawa then heads to North Bay on Dec. 10 before returning home the following night for a game against the Niagara IceDogs.
The IceDogs won the first matchup of the season 4-2.