Oshawa defeats Battalion
Tyler Hinde scored two goals to lead the Oshawa Generals to a 7-2 victory Sunday night over the North Bay Battalion, giving the Generals two wins in as many games to start the Ontario Hockey League season.
Kane Cloutier and Aiden O’Donnell had one goal and one assist apiece, and Brennan Huyck, Caden Taylor and Mark Pape also scored. Goaltender Jaden Cholette contributed 29 saves before 4,642 at the Tribute Communities Centre.
Oshawa, which held period leads of 3-1 and 5-1, posted a 3-2 road win Friday night over the Brampton Steelheads.
Evgeny Dubrovtsev and Kam Hodgson had the North Bay goals, while rookie goaltender Owen Loftus made 22 saves as the Battalion lost for the first time in two games.
Rene Van Bommel left abruptly for the dressing room in the first period but was said to be feeling better after suffering a pinched ulnar nerve. In addition, Parker Vaughan was assessed a match penalty for slew-footing at 20:00 of the final period.
Huyck opened the scoring at 2:56 of the first frame, shoveling a backhander home from the slot after the puck made its way through traffic in front. Cole Mazzoni and Ryan Hedley assisted.
Cloutier, the first overall pick in the OHL Priority Selection in June, connected at 10:31 on a backhander from deep in the left circle. Leo Laschon and Harrison Franssen drew the assists on Cloutier’s second goal of the season.
Dubrovtsev replied on the power play at 17:36 when he tapped home a Shamar Moses pass at the crease. Aaron Enright drew the other assist.
Taylor countered with the man advantage at 19:52, chopping the puck from the right side with assists to Onni Kalto and Cloutier.
Hinde scored shorthanded at 6:07 of the middle period, knocking a Kalto rebound into the net after Hedley took an instigating minor and misconduct from a fight with Oskar Konobelj that saw each combatant receive a major.
Battalion rookie Alexandre Saulnier lost control of the puck on a penalty shot attempt after Jackson Marthaler covered the disc with his hand in the crease at 18:11.
Konobelj recorded his second takedown of the game in a fight with Brady Murnane, receiving a game misconduct for the second scrap, before O’Donnell struck at 19:44, driving to the net to convert a right-wing faceoff win by Franssen. Sam Roberts had the primary assist.
Hodgson scored at 14:07 of the third period, sweeping the puck from the left circle after a cross-slot pass from Cam Warren. Jax Pereira also assisted on Hodgson’s first OHL goal.
Pape replied 14 seconds later on a backhand, and Hinde completed the scoring on the power play at 16:42 with Vaughan off for tripping.
The Battalion plays host to Brampton at 7 p.m. Thursday on The Capitol Centre Night.
BATTALION BULLETS: Warren and Pereira returned from injuries to make their season debuts … The Battalion went 1-for-6 on the power play. Oshawa was 2-for-7 … Opening lines featured Warren centring left winger Pereira and right winger Vaughan, Dubrovtsev pivoting left winger Moses and right winger Ryder Carey and Nolan Laird centring left winger Van Bommel and right winger Arseny Pronin. Saulnier skated between left winger Max Crete and right winger Hodgson … Defence pairings were Enright with Hayden Barch, Konobelj with Adrian Manzo and Devran Brown with Easton Poe … The Battalion was without Cole Vreugdenhil, Mike McIvor, Kent Greer, Alexander Karmanov, Declan Gallivan, Carter Kunopaski, Austin Brekelmans, Lincoln Edwards and Nikolas Rossetto … Brown was recalled from the junior A Powassan Voodoos to fill in for Kunopaski, who received a one-game suspension after drawing a major and game misconduct for removing Dylan Tsherna’s helmet in a fight in a 2-1 home-ice win Friday night over the Barrie Colts … Gavin Zepp, recalled from the junior C Alliston Hornets of the Provincial Junior Hockey League, backed up Loftus … Among the missing for Oshawa were Brooks Rogowski and Brady Blaseg, who started serving a two-game suspension after drawing a crosschecking major and game misconduct at Brampton … Cloutier was selected from the Vaughan Kings U16s … Matt Mannella and Harry Smith were the referees.
