The London Knights won game four of the OHL Final in dominant fashion, defeating the Oshawa Generals 6-2. A pair of San Jose Sharks prospects factored heavily into the Knights’ victory.
They say heavy is the head that wears the crown, and yet the reigning J. Ross Robertson Cup champions are cruising through the OHL Final.
After losing game one of the series to Oshawa, London has responded with three emphatic wins. In all three games, they’ve scored 5-plus goals while averaging 32 shots on goal.
“We played about as close to a perfect 60 as we could,” said Sam Dickinson about game four. ” We’re happy to get the win.”
While game three featured an intense pushback from the Generals in the third period, game four was an entirely different story.
London came out of the gates firing on all cylinders. They ended up outshooting the Generals 17-6 in the opening frame, though they were unable to register a goal.
The game went completely off the rails for the Generals in the second period as London scored five goals. The majority of the damage was done by San Jose Sharks prospects Dickinson and Kasper Halttunen, who each recorded a pair of goals during the period.
Halttunen picked up a third goal midway through the third period, giving hattricks in back-to-back games, and seven goals in the series.
“He [Halttunen] has got the best shot in the OHL, he’s probably the best goal scorer in the OHL,” said Dickinson. “It’s a lot easier giving the puck to him knowing he’s almost always going to have a good chance of putting it in the net.”
Dickinson added a pair of assists to the goals he scored, giving him four points at the end of the night. In doing so, he set a franchise record for most playoff points scored by a defenseman with 50. He surpassed Dennis Wideman, who previously held the record with 46.
What’s wild is this isn’t even the first franchise record he set this year. By finishing the regular season with 91 points, he also set a franchise record for most points scored by a defender in a single season, beating out the previous record (87) held by Edmonton Oilers blue liner Evan Bouchard.
Between Dickinson and Halttunen, San Jose Sharks fans are sure to be the envy of many NHL franchises in the near future, and that doesn’t even get into other prospects like Quentin Musty, who also spent the year in the OHL.
By winning games three and four in Oshawa, the Knights have taken a stranglehold on the series and put the Generals in a very awkward position. For Oshawa to mount a comeback, they would need to beat London three times in a row while winning a pair of games on the road.
For reference, London only lost back-to-back games once during the regular season and never dropped three games in a row. While this is junior hockey and anything can happen, it seems nearly impossible that Oshawa will beat this London team three times in a row.
In an interesting turn of events, London has the opportunity to win the championship on home ice. Last year, they swept the Generals and won the final game of the series on the road, something that has been a bit of a pattern for the Knights.
Game five will take place tomorrow evening with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The Generals will be looking to force a game six back in Oshawa on Saturday.
Read the full article here