Gens top Petes

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

The Oshawa Generals continued where they left off in the regular season, taking the first two games in their first round playoff series with the Peterborough Petes.

Game one on March 27 saw the Gens fly out of the gate, led by the offense of Tobias Lindberg, who netted himself a first period hat trick.

Despite the Petes striking first in the first period, Oshawa would go on to win the game 7-2.

Sunday night’s game prove to be slightly more troublesome for the eastern division champions as Peterborough, looking to even the score in the series, came out strong, holding the Gens off the board for the first eight minutes.

Bradley Latour would get the Gens on the board, a lead they would carry into the second period.

The Generals floundered slightly in the second, drifting away from their aggressive chip and chase system and found themselves trying to keep up with a surging Peterborough team.

“I thought, second period especially, there was a lot of cheating, going back and forth and that’s just not the way we play,” said head coach DJ Smith following the game.

No puck would find the back of the net in the second frame, with the Petes outshooting the Gens 11-7.

Oshawa found their flow again in the third and a collective sigh of relief was released at the GM Centre when Michael McCarron snapped a much-needed insurance goal into the top corner.

However, the Petes didn’t stop and were able to put a powerplay goal past Kenny Appleby late in the period to wrench up the tension.

It was the only effort the Petes would manage and the Generals would hold on to the 2-1 lead to take the win.

The close game was something Smith felt his team needed.

“We haven’t had a close game in a while where it came down to having to protect the lead and I thought we did a real good job,” he said.

“We’re not that team that steamrolls people. We’ve got to play better defensively.”

Both games saw emotions running high from both clubs and saw McCarron drop the gloves on Friday and captain Josh Brown throw some fists in a spirited bout Sunday night.

Smith says as the series moves on, keeping his team out of the penalty box will become essential, something he thinks the Gens have done a good job of so far.

“We have to be disciplined. I think we’ve been pretty disciplined. We haven’t had any bad penalities,” Smith said.

Smith also found trouble using his team’s depth through the two games, which broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet and required three TV timeouts per frame as opposed to the usual one break per period.

“It really breaks up the flow and disallows us to use our depth,” he said.

“It makes it easier to roll three lines and I want to roll four. When they put their top lines back out, I’ve got to match it.”

The Generals were on the road to Peterborough on March 31 for game three of the series, a final score for which was not available prior to The Oshawa Express press deadline.

Game four of the series runs April 2 in Peterborough.

For the Generals’ Hunter Smith, he says if the team sticks to their systems, they should have no trouble in Peterborough.

“We’ve got to worry about their systems and we’ve got systems in place to shut them down. But I think if we play our game, we’re going to be set,” he said.