Game 2 of the OHL Finals gets underway Saturday night, where the Oshawa Generals will look to even up the series despite being blown out in Game 1.
In Game 1 of the OHL Finals, the London Knights were unable to be stopped. They scored eight goals on the Generals, only giving up one in their own net. Oshawa will be looking to find some answers for the Knights offence, and they will be looking to find more of their own in Game 2.
Budweiser Gardens is one of the toughest barns to play in as the away team, as the Knights have only lost one home playoff game this season. Oshawa will need to start turning the crowd's energy into momentum, and get a quick start in this game.
They have elite offensive talent with Calum Ritchie, Dylan Roobroeck, Connor Lockhart, and Beckett Sennecke — when he is healthy. This offensive core has proven that they can out-score teams, and that is exactly what they will need to do.
Another big factor for the Generals will be Jacob Oster in goal. Oster was the OHL's top goaltender this season, and he has been that in the playoffs as well. He has proven the ability to steal games for his club, and it seems likely that he will have to steal one or two if the Generals are going to have a chance in this series.
Oster is the performer that they can rely on when things get tough, he is going to shut the door. The question is if Oster can do enough, combined with Oshawa's offence, to stymie the London Knights attack.
For the London Knights, it was Easton Cowan who stepped up to bat — as he has done all-season-long.
The "Cowboy" had five points in Game 1, which is more than what he had in the full series of the OHL Finals last season.
Cowan has 24 points in 15 games for the Knights in these playoffs, and he looked viciously unstoppable in Game 1 against Oshawa. No one was going to stop his offensive drives, his speed through the neutral zone, or his passes through traffic.
The Toronto Maple Leafs prospect has been an "X Factor" for London in these playoffs, and he might just win OHL Playoff MVP if he continues to do that through the course of this final series.
The London Knights will need to get similar offensive contributions to beat the Generals again in Game 2 — and it doesn't looked like they will be stopped anytime soon.
London is so deep in every position that they rarely have a night where nobody steps up. Whether it is Cowan, Denver Barkey, Jacob Julien, Ruslan Gazizov, Kasper Halttunen, the Knights always have someone that steps up in big moments like these.