OHL: Knights hold off Firebirds to take 4-3 OT victory, 3-0 series lead
By The Canadian Press on April 2, 2024.
FLINT, Mich. – Landon Sim scored the game-winning goal at 11:59 of overtime on Tuesday, lifting the London Knights to a 4-3 win and 3-0 series lead over the Flint Firebirds in Ontario Hockey League playoff action. Easton Cowan, Kaleb Lawrence, and Kasper Halttunen provided the rest of the offence for London, which can advance to the second round with a win in Game 4 on Thursday. Michael Simpson made 25 saves. Blake Smith, Coulson Pitre and Connor Clattenburg replied for Flint, which got 32 stops from Nathan Day. After Clattenburg opened the scoring at 11:50 of the first period, the Knights scored three unanswered goals capped by Halttunen at 2:19 of the third. Pitre and Smith’s goals at 4:47 and 7:07 of the third period, however, pushed the game to overtime. — RANGERS 4 OTTERS 3 (OT) (Rangers lead best-of-seven series 2-1) ERIE, Pa. – Justin Bottineau capped a two-goal effort by knocking in the game-winning goal at 7:57 of overtime period as the Kitchener Rangers came back to edge the Erie Otters 4-3. Antonino Pugliese and Adrian Misaljevic also scored for Kitchener, which scored four unanswered goals after being down 3-0 by 1:12 of the second period. Sam Alfano, Kaleb Smith and Dylan Edwards netted a goal apiece for Erie, which will look to redeem itself on Thursday on home ice. — GENERALS 5 COLTS 1 (Generals lead best-of-seven series 2-1) BARRIE, Ont. – Dylan Roobroeck and Calum Ritchie each had a goal and an assist as the Oshawa Generals won their second straight in defeating the Barrie Colts 5-1. Matthew Buckley, Rasmus Kumpulainen and Connor Punnett also scored for Oshawa, which aims to take a 3-1 series lead on Thursday. Blair Scott had the lone goal for Barrie, which got 42 saves from Ben West. — 67’S 5 BULLDOGS 2 (67’s lead best-of-seven series 2-1) OTTAWA – Luca Pinelli and Braeden Kressler both scored two goals and the Ottawa 67’s topped the Brantford Bulldogs 5-2. Caden Kelly added the other for Ottawa, which scored three unanswered goals from the seven-minute mark of the second period and on to win its second straight in the series. Marek Vanacker and Jake O’Brien scored for Brantford, which looks to even the series on Thursday. — This roundup was generated automatically with a CP-developed application. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2024. 28-27
