Nick Lardis kneeling to take a shot [OHL Images].

Earlier this afternoon, the Brantford Bulldogs defeated the Oshawa Generals 8-5 to take a two-game lead in the series. Chicago Blackhawks prospect Nick Lardis was the center of attention, scoring a hattrick in the win.

Lardis' 71 goals during the regular season led all CHL players by a wide margin. He finished nine goals ahead of Michael Misa, who was the second-highest goal scorer in major juniors.

Will Michael Misa be a top pick in the 2025 NHL draft?

So far this postseason, the Oakville native leads the Brantford with 11 goals and four assists in seven playoff games. Based on his regular season, he is one of the top candidates to take home the Red Tilson Award, which is awarded to the OHL's most valuable player during the regular season.

Unlike in game one, Brantford jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Marek Vanacker and Lardis. On both goals, the puck seemed to worm its way through goaltender Jacob Oster, who finished the game with a .760 save percentage.

Egorov Steps Off The Bench To Win Game One For Brantford The second round of the OHL playoffs didn't start the way Brantford would have wanted. Going into the second period, they were down 2-0 to the Oshawa Generals as a result of goals from Luca Marrelli and playoff breakout Owen Griffin. 

Despite being outshot 24-18 through the first 40 minutes of play, Brantford held a 5-3 lead going into the third period. Dylan Tsherna's first goal of the postseason extended the lead 6-3 early in the period.

The Generals pushed back, scoring a pair of goals courtesy of Noah Powell and Owen Griffin to bring the Brantford lead back to one. A pair of empty goals sealed the victory for Brantford with a final score of 8-5.

David Egorov came up big in goal for Brantford, making 30 saves on 35 shots to pick up his second win of the postseason. Ryerson Leenders' status remains unknown.

Peterborough Petes Take Kaden McGregor With First-Overall Pick The Peterborough Petes kicked off the 2025 OHL Priority Selection by selecting Kaden McGregor with the first overall pick in the draft. It was a big moment for McGregor, who will go down in Pete's history as the only first-overall selection made by Peterborough to date.

The two teams displayed some real animosity towards one another, chirping back and forth throughout the game while playing a very physical brand of hockey.

The Generals find themselves down a pair of games early on in the series. The upside is that on Tuesday, the series will shift to Oshawa, where they will have home ice advantage.

Owen Griffin has been the big name for Oshawa through the team's first eight playoff games. With nine goals and six assists to start to playoffs, he is nearly a two-point per game player. This seems like a real breakout run for the former sixth-overall pick in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection.

The Generals need to find a response in game three or risk getting into a position that is nearly impossible to recover from.

MVP Candidate Scores Hattrick In Game Two Win