Joel Vanderlaan
@joelvanderlaan
The London Knights held off a third-period rally from the Oshawa Generals to take Game 3 of the OHL Championship Series, earning a 7–5 win on Monday night at Tribute Communities Centre.
With the victory, the Knights now lead the best-of-seven final two games to one. Easton Cowan opened the scoring just under eight minutes into the contest.
With the goal, the Toronto Maple Leafs first-rounder passed Rob Schremp to become the Knights’ all-time playoff scoring leader with 90 career postseason points.
Moments later, San Jose Sharks prospect Kasper Halttunen blasted home a one-timer to double London’s lead heading into the intermission.
Just 56 seconds into the period, Halttunen tallied again. This time finishing off a highlight-reel setup from Cowan, who dodged a defender as he entered the zone.
Oshawa responded with a goal from NHL Draft-eligible Owen Griffin, who deflected a point shot to make it 3–1.
The Knights replied as Jacob Julien capitalized shorthanded to restore the three-goal lead, and Halttunen completed his hat trick to give London a 5–1 advantage through two periods.
Down but not out, the Generals came storming back in the third. Luca D’Amato, Colby Barlow, and Luke Torrance all scored to get Oshawa within one.
London answered with a timely goal late in the frame. After D’Amato failed to get the puck deep, Jesse Nurmi made it 6–4.
The Generals refused to quit, and Beckett Sennecke buried a chance to make it 6–5 with just 1:29 remaining. But for the second straight game, Cowan sealed the win with an empty-netter.
Austin Elliott made 31 saves to earn the win, while Jacob Oster stopped 20 shots in the loss for Oshawa.
The series resumes tomorrow night in Oshawa as the Generals will look to bounce back and even things up before the series shifts back to London for Game 5 on Thursday.
