The Oshawa Generals scored the go-ahead goal with just over five minutes left to play as they defeated the Brantford Bulldogs 4-2 in game four to even up their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal on Thursday, April 17, 2025.
In the opening period, the Bulldogs got off to a much better start than in game three, keeping the Generals to nine overall shots and one power-play over 20 minutes. David Egorov was solid when called upon on 9 shots making a couple stops on defenseman breaking down from the point including a solid chance from Luca D’Amato and a bouncing attempt from Beckett Sennecke to keep his crease clean. On their own power-play at 13:21, the Bulldogs nabbed the ice breaker, Jake O’Brien laid the puck back to Tomas Hamara at the top of the formation hammering a shot through a screen that Jacob Oster denied but kicked back to the slot where Marek Vanacker fought through a stick check and hopped on the rebound to knock in his 5th of the post-season to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 they held to the locker room through 20 minutes.
The middle frame was an equally cagey affair with the Generals coming out with a jump in their stride hemming the Bulldogs in their zone early forcing David Egorov into six early saves and earning a power-play. The Generals cashed in on the man-advantage, with Callum Ritchie faking in the left circle before firing a shot on goal that was tipped off Egorov’s shoulder by Beckett Sennecke before Sennecke bunted the puck out of the air into the Brantford net for his 5th of the playoffs tying the game, 1-1 at 6:35. The Bulldogs evened out the frame from there out-shooting the Generals 5-3 the rest of the way and earning a couple goal mouth scramble chances from Jake O’Brien & Nick Rossetto and then Luca Testa that just wouldn’t find a way through Jacob Oster with the game remaining knotted 1-1 into the final frame.
The final frame opened with the Generals on the power-play and a quick strike with Colby Barlow skating down the left-wing side cutting to the short side of David Egorov’s goal and lifting the puck to the far side for his 8th of the playoffs to give the hosts a 2-1 lead. The first even strength goal of the game didn’t come until 8:54 of the third period with Adam Jiricek laying the puck forward to Dylan Tsherna on the right side whistling a pass across the offensive zone to Calvin Crombie to knock into a yawning cage for his 4th of the playoffs tying the game 2-2. The Generals wrestled back the lead late in the frame with Brooks Rogowski battling a puck loose deep in the offensive zone, feeding Matthew Buckley who caught Egorov deep in his goal for his 3rd of the playoffs at 14:43 to make it 3-2 for the hosts. Egorov came up with a massive stop late in the game with Luke Torrance bearing down on a breakaway trying to slide it five-hole with Egorov pinning his pad to the ice to keep it from sliding across the goal line. The Bulldogs pulled Egorov to the bench with 2:15 to go to go 6-on-5 and despite a couple good looks were unable to find the equalizer before Beckett Sennecke hit the empty net to give the Generals the game by a 4-2 score, tying the series at two games apiece.
The Bulldogs will look to regain the series lead when they host the Generals in game five on Saturday, April 19, 2025.
Story written by Reed Duthie
