A career-high five points from Patrick Thomas and 31 saves by David Egorov propelled the Brantford Bulldogs to a 6-2 victory over the Oshawa Generals on Saturday, September 28, 2024.
Oshawa opened the scoring in the first period as Matthew Buckley shot the puck past the left side of Bulldogs G David Egorov at 4:02. Brantford responded with its first goal with 7:49 left in the period after Owen Protz received the pass from Cole Brown, who shot the puck from the blue line, going over the right shoulder of Generals G Noah Bender.
With 12:37 remaining in the second period, and on the five-on-three powerplay, Patrick Thomas and Zakary Lavoie set up the sequence to Nick Lardis, who rifled his patented one-timer to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead. With the assist on the Lardis goal, Thomas recorded his 150th career point in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
The Generals looked to tie the game with 6:52 remaining as Ethan Toms looked to score, but Egorov made his first of several critical stops of the period. Egorov continued to show his athleticism later in the period by making two great pad saves on the Generals Luca D’Amato and the rebound attempt by Shawn Costello.
The Bulldogs increased their lead with less than two minutes in the middle frame. Noah Roberts shot the puck from near the blue line in the attacking zone but it was deflected in front of the Oshawa crease by Thomas for a 3-1 lead. Nineteen seconds later, the Bulldogs padded their lead as the shot from Thomas led to a scramble in the net, and Jake O’Brien managed to tuck in the loose puck past the Generals’ defence for a 4-1 lead through 40 minutes.
Just over three minutes into the final frame, Oshawa would cut the lead to a pair as Luca Marrelli sniped the puck top corner past Egorov. Less than 90 seconds later, O’Brien, the reigning OHL Rookie of the Year put on his own display as he skated the puck towards the Generals goal and beat Bender for his second goal of the game, opening up a 5-2 lead.
The Bulldogs cemented their win with 5:29 left when Lardis received a highlight-reel pass from Thomas and fired his signature one-timer from the slot in the attacking zone as the home team skated to the 6-2 victory.
