OHL Finals London vs. Oshawa Game 4 Preview; It's Now or Never for Oshawa

The J. Ross Robertson Trophy will be in the building tonight in Oshawa, but it will be the road team London who look to hoist the cup above their shoulders by the end of the night and win their franchise's fifth OHL Championship. 

After scoring five unanswered goals and Henry Brzustewicz scoring the 2OT winner in Game 3, the Oshawa Generals find themselves in a deep hole down 3-0 in the OHL Finals to the London Knights.

All was looking positive Monday night for the home team. The Generals received reinforcements with the returns of defenceman Connor Punnett and right-winger Matthew Buckley. Their offence came alive after only scoring two goals combined through the first two games and was leading 6-2 heading into the third period.

However, this London Knights team is different. They didn't decide to back up shop and start focusing on Game 4. "Just keep pushing guys, get one." That was London's Head Coach Dale Hunter's message to the team in the second intermission. His team rallied back to score four goals in the third period and stun the Oshawa faithful before ultimately winning it in double-overtime.

Derek Laxdal was less than pleased with the officiating Monday night and did not mince his words when speaking to the media. "The calls seemed to have changed for a certain reason. There were a couple of non-calls. Actually I'd really like an explanation on at some point in time."

Dylan Roobroeck had a breakaway with five minutes left in the third with the score 6-5 for the Generals. London's defender Oliver Bonk hustled back and appeared to have kicked Roobroeck's feet from underneath him to nullify the scoring chance. No call was made on the play.

"I thought that was a call that would be called 99-out-100 times. There's no explanation for that not being called. I think it's a poor decision by the referees and I think our group deserves an explanation from somebody. It could even be a slew-foot," said Laxdal.

Alas, now the focus needs to be shifted to Game 4 where it will be all gas, no brakes for the Generals who now know they have no option but to do the impossible and reverse sweep the London Knights. 

A few things went the Generals' way in Game 3 which hopefully can carry over as momentum into Wednesday night's match.

Oshawa was able to chase London goaltender Michael Simpson out of the net after two periods and scored six goals on 19 shots against him. Their top line of Calum Ritchie, Dylan Roobroeck, and Connor Lockhart were lights-out terrific combining for four goals, ten points, and 19 shots. And Connor Punnett, who clearly isn't at 100%, provided that shutdown and physical presence, which has been missing in this series for Oshawa, was a plus-3 in his return to the lineup. 

The biggest challenge remains for the Generals to shut down London's lethal offence and not allow their powerplay to continue to be a major factor in these games. The Knights have outscored Oshawa 24-8 in the series and have gone 9-for-17 on the man advantage.

Easton Cowan added three assists in Game 3 and is now up to 11 points in the series. Cowan's 30 points in 17 games leads all players in the post-season and he's trending to be the OHL Playoffs MVP. Kasper Halttunen has scored back-to-back hat tricks and his 15 goals now lead the OHL playoffs. He also set a new record for most playoff goals scored by an import player. And Oliver Bonk, or "Bumper Bonk" as he's known on the powerplay, has eight points in the series and looks every bit like the first-round draft pick he was by the Philadelphia Flyers. 

There's no tomorrow for Oshawa. It's now or never with their season on the line. Game 4 gets underway at 7pm EST at the Tribute Communities Centre in downtown Oshawa where you can expect another lively sold-out crowd urging the Gens on.