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OHL Finals: Oshawa wins in overtime, one victory away from title

The Oshawa Generals grabbed a 6-5 overtime victory over Connor McDavid and the Erie Otters and now head back home for game 5 with a 3-1 series lead in the OHL Finals. Generals captain, and Florida Panthers prospect Josh Brown had a goal in the high-scoring affair. NHL super-prospect McDavid had a goal and 3 assists in the game for the Otters.

Cole Cassels lit the lamp on the power play for the Generals to end the game 8:19 into overtime. Cassels is a name quite familiar to Hartford Whalers fans, as his father, Andrew, played for the Green and White from 1991-1997.

Brown scored his goal with less than one second left on the clock at the conclusion of the second period to tie the game at five. The big shut-down defender jumped into the offensive zone and grabbed a rebound and put it home to conclude the high-scoring second frame. The tie would hold through overtime.

Neate Sager of Yahoo Sports reported Oshawa Coach D.J. Smith’s post game comments about Brown and his ability to a slow down a game that had gotten out of control:

“A guy like Dakota Mermis, or someone like Josh Brown, they can slow it down,” Generals coach D.J. Smith said of his overage defencemen. “They calmed it down. It was down to a one-shot game. We were able to get out of that [third] period without allowing one.”

With Game 5 shifting back to Oshawa, and the Generals able to get last change, Coach Smith expressed hope his team could do more to shut down McDavid: (again from Sager):

“For me to be able to get Cole, and [left wing Bradley] Latour and [right wing Hunter] Smith out there against the McDavid line with Brown and Mermis on defence, every shift, is huge,” D.J. Smith said. “As much as our other guys are battling they’re key defensive players for us and have been for three years. You saw tonight how good McDavid is. You give him an inch and he puts it away. We have to try to make sure we can keep him off the board, which is hard to do.”

Game 5 will be Friday night at 7:05 p.m. in Oshawa.

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